Final  Report 

OF  TUB 

international  Joint  Commission 


Washington-  Ottawa 
1918 


FINAL  REPORT 


OF  THE 


International  Joint  Commission 


On  the 

Pollution  of  Boundary  Waters 
Reference 

v 

Washington-Ottawa 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1918 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 


UNITED  STATES. 

OBADIAH  GARDNER,  CHAIBMAN. 
JAMES  A.  TAWNEY. 
R.  B.  GLENN. 

WHITEHEAD  KLUTTZ,  Secretary. 


CANADA. 

CHARGES  A.  MAGRATH,  CHAIRMAN. 
HENRY  A.  POWELL,  K.  C. 
P.  B.  MIGNAULT,  K.  C. 

LAWBENCE  J.  BUEPEE,  Secretary. 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 


SEPTEMBER  10,  1918. 

SIR:  We  have  the  honor  to  inclose  herewith  the  Final  Eeport  of 
the  International  Joint  Commission  in  the  matter  of  the  reference 
of  August  1,  1912,  submitted  by  the  Governments  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  under  the  provisions  of 
Article  IX  of  the  treaty  of  January  11,  1909,  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain. 
We  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servants, 

WHITEHEAD  KLUTTZ, 
LAWRENCE  J.  BURPEE, 

Secretaries. 
The  honorable  the  SECRETARY  OF  STATE, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

3 


FINAL  REPORT  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION  IN 
THE  MATTER  OF  THE  REFERENCE  BY  THE  UNITED  STATES 
AND  THE  DOMINION  OF  CANADA  RELATIVE  TO  THE  POLLU- 
TION OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS. 


I.— INTRODUCTION. 

Under  the  terms  of  Article  IX  of  the  treaty  of  January  11,  1909, 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  the  following  ques- 
tions were  submitted  by  the  Governments  of  the  United  States  and  of 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  to  the  International  Joint  Commission 
under  date  of  August  1,  1912,  for  examination  and  report  upon  the 
facts  and  circumstances  connected  with  the  pollution  of  boundary 
waters,  and  for  such  conclusions  and  recommendations  tfs  might  be 
appropriate : 

1.  To  what  extent  and  by  what  causes  and  in  what  localities  have  the 

boundary  waters  between  the  United  States  and  Canada 
Original  reference.      been  polluted  so  as  to  be  injurious  to  the  public  health  and 
unfit  for  domestic  or  other  uses? 

2.  In  what  way  or  manner,  whether  by  the  construction  and  operation  of 
suitable  drainage  canals  or  plants  at  convenient  points  or  otherwise,  is  it  pos- 
sible and  advisable  to  remedy  or  prevent  the  pollution  of  these  waters,  and  by 
what   means   or   arrangement  can   the  proper   construction   or   operation   of 
remedial  or  preventive  works,  or  a  system  or  method  of  rendering  these  waters 
sanitary  and  suitable  for  domestic  and  other  uses,  be  best  secured  and  main- 
tained in  order  to  insure  the  adequate  protection  and   development  of  all 
interests  involved  on  both  sides  of  the  boundary  and  to  fulfil  the  obligations 
undertaken  in  Article  IV  of  the  waterways  treaty  of  January  11,  1909,  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  in  which  it  is  agreed  that  the  waters 
therein  defined  as  boundary  waters  and  waters  flowing  across  the  boundary 
shall  not  be  polluted  on  either  side  to  the  injury  of  health  or  property  on  the 
other? 

The  expression  "boundary  waters"  is  used  in  the  treaty  with 
Definition  of  bound-    a    special    meaning,    being    therein    defined    as 

ary  water*.  f  olloWS  I 

For  the  purposes  of  this  treaty,  boundary  waters  are  defined  as  the  waters 
from  main  shore  to  main  shore  of  the  lakes  and  rivers  and  connecting  water- 
ways, or  the  portions  thereof,  along  which  the  international  boundary  between 
the  United  States  and  the  Dominion  of  Canada  passes,  including  all  bays,  arms, 
and  inlets  thereof,  but  not  including  tributary  waters  which  in  their  natural 
channels  would  flow  into  such  lakes,  rivers,  and  waterways,  or  waters  flowing 
from  such  lakes,  rivers,  and  waterways,  or  the  waters  of  rivers  flowing  across 
the  boundary. 

5 


6  FINAL  REPORT  INTERN  ATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

In  this  report  the  term  "  boundary  waters  "  shall  have  the  mean- 
ing attached  to  it  by  the  treaty. 

The  reference  as  thus  submitted  is  broad  enough  to  require  an 

investigation  of  all  boundary  waters  as  the  same 

eretcTdl  are  defined  in  the  treaty  without  regard  to  the 

present  or  future  transboundary  effect  of  their  pol- 

lution on  either  side;  but  when  it  first  came  before  the  commission 

at  its  Ottawa  meeting  in  October,  1912,  a  doubt  arose  as  to  whether 

or  not  the  two  Governments  intended  that  pollution  in  all  boundary 

waters  was  to  be  included  in  the  investigation,  and  a  letter  was 

addressed  to  both  Governments  requesting  an  expression  of  their 

views  in  such  manner  as  they  might  deem  proper  — 

As  to  whether  or  not  the  broad  scope  of  the  inquiry  is  to  be  circumscribed 
by  construction  so  as  to  confine  the  same  to  cases  of  pollution  of  the  boundary 
waters  upon  one  side  of  the  boundary  which  may  extend  to  and  affect  the 
boundary  waters  upon  the  other  side. 

By  letter  under  date  of  November  19,  1912,  the  commission  was 
informed  by  Mr.  Knox,  Secretary  of  State,  that  the  Governments  of 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  had  — 

reached  an  accord  that  the  inquiry  is  to  be  confined  to  cases  of  pollution  of 
boundary  waters  on  one  side  of  the  boundary  which  extend  to  and  affect  the 
boundary  waters  upon  the  other  side. 

The  original  submission  as  modified  by  this  limitation  constitutes 
the  reference  under  which  the  commission  is  acting. 

The  treaty,  in  addition  to  prohibiting  such  pollution  of  boundary 

waters  as  would  have  the  effect  of  injuring  health 

omission  of  pollution    or  property  on  the  side  of  the  boundary  line  oppo- 

ln  rivers  crossing  the        .    J  .    .  J  rf 

site  to  that  in  which  it  originates,  prohibits  the 


pollution  of  rivers  flowing  across  the  boundary 
line  which  has  an  injurious  transboundary  effect.  The  first  ques- 
tion omits  entirely  any  reference  to  pollution  in  these  rivers,  al- 
though it  is  involved  in  the  second  question  submitted.  The  facts 
connected  with  pollution  in  rivers  crossing  the  boundary  line,  how- 
ever, call  for  no  special  investigation;  and  the  commission  regards 
it  as  clear  that  the  treatment  prescribed  in  the  case  of  rivers  which 
are  boundary  waters  should  be  made  applicable  to  them. 

interests  and  terri-        The  reference  has  imposed  upon  the  commission 
tory  affected.  grave  responsibilities.     From  the  language  of  the 

submission  and  this  prohibitory  clause  of  the  treaty,  it  is  evident  that 
the  object  which  the  two  Governments  had  in  view  in  making  the 
reference  was  to  see  that  their  reciprocal  obligations  with  respect  to 
the  pollution  of  those  waters  should  be  fulfilled.  By  the  traditions 
of  each  country  a  treaty  obligation  is  of  supreme  sanctity  and  is  the 
highest  law  of  the  State.  Any  conclusions  the  commission  may  reach 
and  any  recommendations  it  may  make,  may,  if  acted  upon,  affect 


POLLUTION  OP  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  7 

the  physical  health  of  millions  of  people  who  dwell  along  these 
waters,  as  well  as  the  financial  and  other  interests  of  eight  States 
of  the  United  States  and  three  Provinces  of  the  Dominion. 

The  people  of  both  countries  possess,  in  the  splendid  immensity  of 
the  series  of  waterways  through  which  so  much  of  their  common 
boundary  passes,  a  heritage  of  inestimable  value.  Millions  of  people 
dwell  in  their  watersheds.  Along  the  banks  of  the  rivers  and  Great 
Lakes  communities  which  a  few  years  ago  were  mere  villages  are 
now  in  population,  in  social  and  industrial  development,  among  the 
most  important  on  the  continent.  Industries  which  have  suddenly 
sprung  up  have  an  annual  output  of  manufactured  products  aggre- 
gating in  value  $10,000,000,000.  Agriculture  and  mining  have  kept 
pace  with  manufacturing  in  the  line  of  expansion.  According  to 
official  information  the  rural  population  of  the  watersheds  culti- 
vate to-day  over  100,000,000  acres  of  land,  and  the  yearly  yield  of 
the  mines  is  valued  at  $300,000,000.  The  boundary  waters  are  the 
natural  channels  of  interstate  and  international  commerce.  The 
world  possesses  no  other  water  thoroughfare  comparable  with  the 
highway  leading  from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  head  of  Lake 
Superior.  While  nature  left  comparatively  little  for  man  to  do  in 
adapting  these  waters  to  commercial  needs,  canals  had  to  be  con- 
structed at  certain  points,  and  rivers,  channels,  and  harbors  deep- 
ened or  created.  These  works  involved  an  expenditure  on  the  part 
of  Canada  of  $250,000,000  and  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  of 
$135,000,000.  Vessels  drawing  19  or  20  feet  can  now  navigate  the 
Great  Lakes  from  Duluth  or  Chicago  to  Buffalo.  Some  idea  of  the 
magnitude  of  commerce  on  these  waters  may  be  gleaned  from  the  fact 
that  the  vessel  passages  up  and  down  the  Detroit  River  in  1916 
amounted  to  37,852,  the  registered  tonnage  of  the  vessels  reaching 
76,677,264,  their  passengers,  including  ferry  passengers,  numbering 
15,000,000  and  their  freight  exceeding  100,000,000  tons,  valued  at 
something  over  $1,000,000,000. 

The  Thousand  Islands  and  hundreds  of  other  attractive  spots 
along  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  the  Great  Lakes,  and  their  connecting 
waterways,  as  well  as  in  that  splendid  chain  of  boundary  waters  still 
farther  west  which  lie  within  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  watershed, 
afford  unexcelled  opportunities  for  rest,  recreation,  and  pleasure, 
which  are  taken  advantage  of  by  a  very  large  floating  population 
during  the  summer  months. 

The  directness  of  the  water  route  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the 
head  of  Lake  Superior,  the  adaptation  to  water  carriage  of  the 
freight  borne  by  the  lake  boats,  and  the  cheapness  with  which  this 
freight  can  be  transported  by  them,  the  completion  of  the  barge 
canal  from  Buffalo  to  New  York,  the  proposed  enlargement  of  the 
Welland  and  other  canals  along  the  boundary  rivers  permitting  the 


8  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

passage  of  vessels  of  28  or  29  feet  draft  from  the  ocean  to  the 
heart  of  the  continent,  the  future  settlement  of  the  great  wheat  belt 
of  Canada,  the  fringe  only  of  which  has  been  touched,  and  the  pos- 
sible utilization  of  the  3,375,000  dependable  horsepower  of  the 
boundary  rivers,  render  the  conclusion  inevitable  that  the  commerce 
and  shipping  on  these  waters  and  the  wealth,  the  industries,  and  the 
population  along  their  banks  must  in  the  near  future  reach  dimen- 
sions far  exceeding  their  present  attainment,  and  may  ultimately 
far  surpass  any  area  of  similar  extent  in  the  world.  In  working 
out  the  enormous  possibilities  of  this  vast  section  of  the  continent 
the  proper  observance  of  international  sanitary  requirements  will  be 
a  most  essential  factor. 

The  first  branch  of  the  reference  expressly  calls  for  an  inquiry 

into  three  subjects :   (1)  The  location  and  extent  of 
scope  of  the  inquiry,    the  pollution  of  boundary  waters,  (2)  the  sources 

from  which  this  pollution  is  derived,  and  (3)  the 
localities,  if  any,  in  which  the  pollution  has  a  transboundary  effect 
injurious  to  health  or  property.  Involved  in  this  last  subject  is  the 
determination  of  what  is  an  injury  to  health  or  property  within  the 
meaning  of  the  reference  and  of  the  treaty.  The  second  branch  of 
the  reference  calls  for  the  recommendation  of  measures  and  methods 
for  remedying  or  preventing  existing  or  future  evils. 


II.— PLAN  OF  PROCEDURE  IN  THE  INVESTIGATION. 

While  the  answer  to  the  question  in  the  first  branch  of  the  refer- 
ence covers  chiefly  matters  of  fact,  the  proper  pro- 
""  cedure  to  be  followed  in  the  investigations  re- 
quired the  most  careful  consideration  of  every- 
thing involved,  of  the  geographical  and  experimental  limitations 
that  might  with  advantage  be  imposed  on  the  scope  of  the  work,  of 
the  most  suitable  form  of  organization  for  carrying  otit  the  neces- 
sarily extensive  examinations  thoroughly,  expedition  sly,  and  eco- 
nomically, and  of  the  minor  details  of  technique  and  general  pro- 
cedure. Man}^  of  the  matters  involved  called  for  expert  assistance, 
and  the  commission  enlisted  the  sympathetic  aid  and  cooperation  of 
sanitary  experts,  health  officials,  and  others  interested  in  both  the 
United  States  and  Canada  in  the  preparation  and  carrying  out  of  a 
plan  of  procedure.  A  conference  was  held  at  Buffalo  on  Decem- 
ber 17,  1912,  at  which,  on  the  invitation  of  the  commission,  the  fol- 
lowing officials  and  experts  were  present  and  participated:  Mr. 
John  Thompson,  K.  C.,  representing  the  Dominion  Government; 
Dr.  Frederick  Montizarnbert,  director  general  of  public  health  for 
the  Dominion  of  Canada:  Dr.  Charles  A.  Hodgetts,  medical  ad- 
visor, commission  of  conservation,  Ottawa ;  Dr.  John  A.  Amyot, 
director  of  laboratories,  provincial  board  of  health,  Toronto;  Dr. 
J.  W.  S.  McCullough,  chief  health  officer  for  Ontario;  Mr.  F.  A. 
Dallyn,  C.  E.,  provincial  sanitary  engineer  for  the  Province  of 
Ontario;  Mr.  Theodore  J.  Lafreni&re,  sanitary  engineer,  provincial 
board  of  health  of  Quebec ;  Dr.  Allan  J.  McLaughlin,  United  States 
Public  Health  Service,  Washington;  Hon.  George  Clinton,  Buffalo; 
Mr.  A.  H.  Seymour,  secretary  State  department  of  health,  Albany; 
Mr.  Theodore  Horton,  chief  engineer,  State  department  of  health, 
Albany;  Dr.  Edward  Clark,  medical  health  officer,  State  board  of 
health,  Buffalo;  Mr.  George  H.  Norton,  deputy  engineer  commis- 
sioner, department  of  public  works,  Buffalo;  Dr.  Francis  E.  Fronc- 
zak,  health  commissioner,  Buffalo;  Mr.  H.  A.  Whittaker,  assistant 
director,  laboratory  division,  Minnesota  State  Board  of  Health; 
Mr.  John  W.  Hill,  State  board  of  health,  Cincinnati,  Ohio ;  Dr.  Ed- 
ward Bartow,  director  State  water  survey,  Urbana,  111.;  Mr.  W.  M. 
Mills,  president  Niagara  Frontier  Pure  Water  Conference,  North 
Tonawanda,  N.  Y. ;  Dr.  W.  G.  Palmer,  member  of  the  Niagara  Pure 
Water  Conference,  North  Tonawanda;  and  Mr.  Irving  L.  Pruyn, 

9 


10  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

Oneonta,  N.  Y.  Representatives  from  the  health  departments  of 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Pennsylvania,  although  requested  to  do 
so,  were  unable  to  attend. 

The  conference  was  organized,  Mr.  A.  H.  Seymour,  secretary  of 
the  New  York  Department  of  Health,  being  appointed  chairman, 
and  Dr.  Allen  J.  McLaughlin,  of  the  United  States  Public  Health 
Service,  secretary. 

The  commission  requested  the  advice  of  the  conference  as  to  the 
points  in  boundary  waters  where  investigations  should  be  made,  the 
general  nature  of  the  investigations  at  these  points,  and  other  mat- 
ters of  detail. 

The  conclusion  was  reached  that  the  points  of  investigation  should 
include  Rainy  River,  St.  Marys  River,  Lake  St.  Clair,  Detroit  River, 
Niagara  River,  the  St.  Lawrence  River  from  Lake  Ontario  to  a 
point  as  far  below  the  international  boundary  line  as  should  be 
thought  necessary,  the  lake  waters  in  the  vicinity  of  Port  Arthur, 
Fort  William,  and  Duluth,  the  lower  end  of  Lake  Huron  in  the 
vicinity  of  Sarnia  and  Port  Huron,  the  western  end  of  Lake  Erie  in 
the  vicinity  of  Cleveland  and  Port  Stanley,  the  eastern  and  western 
ends  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  sections  of  the  latter  lake  at  Rochester  and 
Toronto.  It  was  contemplated  that  other  points  on  the  boundary 
outside  of  the  Great  Lakes  system  should  be  examined  if  subsequently 
deemed  desirable. 

The  conference  further  advised  the  commission  that  the  investiga- 
tion should  include  a  bacteriological  examination  of  samples  taken, 
including  the  bacterial  count,  the  qualitative  and  quantitative  esti- 
mation of  B.  coli  according  to  standard  methods,  and  such  chemical 
examination  as  might  subsequently  be  deemed  necessary. 

In  February,  1913,  a  detailed  plan  for  conducting  the  investiga- 
tion in  its  entirety  was  adopted,  and  Dr.  Allan  J. 
In"  McLaughlin  was  employed  as  chief  sanitary  expert 
and  director  of  field  work.  With  him  the  commis- 
sion associated  Dr.  J.  W.  S.  McCullough,  Dr.  John  A.  Amyot,  and 
Mr.  F.  A.  Dallyn,  C.  E.  For  the  sake  of  convenience  these  four 
gentlemen  will  hereinafter  be  referred  to  as  "  the  sanitary  experts." 

The  carrying  out  of  the  adopted  plan  involved  what  is  probably  the 
most  extensive  bacteriological  examination  of  waters  the  world  has 
ever  known.  It  embraced  Rainy  River,  parts  of  Rainy  Lake,  parts 
of  Lake  of  the  Woods,  Thunder  Bay  in  Lake  Superior,  St.  Marys 
River,  Mud  Lake,  Detour  Passage,  lower  Lake  Huron,  St.  Clair 
River,  Lake  St.  Clair,  Detroit  River,  the  western  end  of  Lake  Erie, 
the  central  portion  of  Lake  Erie,  the  eastern  end  of  Lake  Erie, 
Niagara  River,  the  western  and  eastern  portions  of  Lake  Ontario, 
the  St.  Lawrence  River  from  Lake  Ontario  to  Cornwall,  and  the  St. 
John  River  so  far  as  it  forms  the  international  boundary.  The  num- 


POLLUTION"  OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS. 


11 


ber  of  sampling  points  exceeded  1,500,  and  the  number  of  samples 
collected  at  them  was  over  18,000.  The  following  table  shows  the 
location  of  the  laboratories,  the  waters  examined,  the  dates  of  the 
examination,  the  number  of  sampling  points,  and  the  total  number 
of  samples : 


Date. 

Waterway. 

Location  of  laboratories. 

Num- 
ber of 
sample 
points. 

Total 
number 
samples. 

1913. 
July  8-22 

Rainy  River  

Fort  Frances,  Ont  

192 

955 

July  28-  August  15    

Lake    Superior    (Thunder 

Port  Arthur,  Ont  

66 

922 

June  28-  July  16  

Bay). 
Lake  Superior,  St.  Marys 

Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Mich  — 

104 

1,065 

July  25-  August  25 

River. 
Lake  Huron.  St.  Clair  River. 

142 

1,606 

LakeSt  Clair  Detroit  River 

Windsor,  Ont  

174 

1  755 

Detroit  River  Lake  Erie 

A  mherstburg,  Ont  

114 

1,306 

Lake  Erie  Port  Stanley 

Windsor,  Ont  

51 

214 

May  26-June  17 

Lake  Erie  Niagara  River.  .. 

Fort  Erie,  Ont  

133 

1,375 

May  27  June  12        . 

Niagara  River  

Niagara-on-the-Lake,  Ont  . 

59 

840 

April  10-May  23 

Lake  Ontario,  St.  Lawrence 

Kingston,  Ont  

113 

928 

May  23-  August  27 

River. 
St    Clair  River,  Lake  St. 

Detroit,  Mich  

70 

1,812 

June  12-July  23  

Clair,  Detroit  River,  Lake 
Erie. 
Lake  Erie  

U.  S.  revenue  cutter  "Mor- 

20 

480 

May  12  July  29 

Lake  Erie,  Niagara  River  

rill." 
Buffalo,  N.  Y  

60 

1,624 

Lake  Ontario,  St.  Lawrence 

Clayton,  N.  Y  

32 

482 

River, 
St  John  River  

Van  Buren,  Me  

32 

672 

July  3-  August  13 

Lake  Huron,  Sr.  Clair  River  . 

Port  Huron,  Mich  

45 

720 

Niagara  River-Lake  Ontario 

Youngstown,  N.  Y  

42 

338 

St.  Lawrence  River  

Montreal,  Quebec  

8 

480 

Points  for  the  collection  of  samples  were  carefully  located,  but 
positions  which  might  show  exceptional  pollution  at  sewer  outlets 
were  avoided,  except  in  certain  cases  where  information  touching 
them  was  desired  for  special  reasons.  Owing  to  the  extraordinary 
amount  of  navigation  on  these  waters,  fixed  buoys  were  not  feasible 
for  the  purposes  of  locating  sample  collection  points  and  the  work 
was  carried  on  by  a  time  and  course  method,  the  samples  being  col- 
lected at  prescribed  time  intervals  and  along  definite  courses  laid 
down  on  the  charts  of  the  waters.  In  swift-running  water,  as  in  the 
Niagara,  Detroit,  and  St.  Clair  Rivers,  diagonal  courses  were  neces- 
sary in  order  to  give  some  length  to  the  cross  sections  and  allow 
sufficient  time  intervals  between  the  taking  of  the  samples.  The 
various  field  parties  were  all  furnished  with  United  States  War 
Department  maps  showing  a  great  deal  of  the  topography  of  the 
areas  under  investigation,  and  also  with  copies  of  the  sewer  maps 
for  the  adjacent  municipalities. 

In  addition  to  the  examination  at  these  points,  samples  were  col- 
lected to  show  the  relation  between  local  situations  and  municipal 
water  supplies  and  to  ascertain  the  character  and  extent  of  the  pol- 
lution which  might  be  due  to  vessels  navigating  boundary  waters. 
Both  surface  and  deep  samples  were  simultaneously  taken  at  certain 


12  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

points  in  the  St.  Clair,  Detroit,  and  Niagara  Elvers  in  order  to 
determine  the  effect  of  stratification.  While  some  situations  show 
definite  stratification,  it  may  be  accepted  in  interpreting  the  results 
that  for  the  waters  under  investigation  surface  samples  measure 
directly  the  extent  of  bacterial  pollution. 

The  investigations  were  essentially  bacteriological  and  the  work 
was  continued  at  each  sample-collection  point  during  a  period  of 
time  sufficient  to  observe  the  quality  of  water,  irrespective  of  minor 
variations. 

Besides  this  bacterial  examination,  some  float  and  temperature 
observations  were  made  and  inquiries  were  carried 
other  data  collected.  t  on  and  data  collected  and  compiled  as  to  area, 
population,  location  of  water-supply  intakes,  quan- 
tity of  sewage  discharged,  for  each  of  the  several  municipalities  in 
the  areas  under  investigation. 

Meteorological  data  relative  to  the  several  points  of  investigation 
for  the  periods  of  examination  were  furnished  by  the  meteorological 
departments  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  the  State  and 
provincial  health  bodies  assiduously  supplied  the  commission  with 
such  vital  statistics  as  were  available.  From  these  statistics  the 
death  rate  from  typhoid  fever  per  100,000  has  been  computed  for 
each  of  the  municipalities  either  abstracting  water  from  or  draining 
into  the  boundary  waters. 

The  immense  amount  of  information  thus  gathered  and  presented 
to  the  commission  appears  in  the  report  of  the  sanitary  experts. 
Maps  were  prepared  to  show  the  location  of  sample  collection  points, 
and  charts  and  tables  to  show  the  bacterial  counts,  B.  coli  averages 
per  100  cubic  centimeters  for  each  of  the  sample  collection  points, 
together  with  the  dates  of  collection  and  the  maximum  amounts 
encountered  during  the  period  of  examination.  This  material  was 
published  with  the  progress  report  of  the  commission  under  date  of 
January  16,  1914.1 

With  the  object  of  obtaining  information  in  addition  to  what  had 
been  gathered  by  the  sanitary  experts  in  their  ex- 
haustive  investigation,  the  commission  held  sittings 
at  many  places  along  the  border  and  took  the  evi- 
dence of  a  large  number  of  people  who  were  acquainted  with  the 
insanitary  conditions  of  several  of  the  districts  affected  by  pollution. 
Members  of  the  commission  also  personally  examined  most  of  the 
points  where  pollution  was  strongly  complained  of. 

Messrs.  Streeter  and  Powell,  as  a  committee  of  the  commission, 
took  evidence  at  Buffalo  in  the  month  of  June,  1913,  touching  the 

1  Progress  report  of  the  International  Joint  Commission  on  the  reference  by  the 
United  States  and  Canada  in  re  the  Pollution  of  Boundary  Waters.  Including  report  o/ 
the  sanitary  experts.  1914. 


POLLUTION  OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  13 

extent  of  pollution  in  the  Niagara  Elver  and  the  effect  of  this  pollu- 
tion upon  the  riparian  towns  on  the  United  States  side  of  the  river.1 
Subsequently,  during  the  months  of  September,  October,  and  Novem- 
ber, 1914,  and  the  months  of  June  and  August,  1916,  meetings  of 
the  commission,  at  which  the  pollution  of  boundary  waters  was 
inquired  into,  were  held  at  a  number  of  places  along  the  Niagara, 
Detroit,  and  St.  Clair  Rivers.2' 3 

In  order  that  the  commission  should,  in  a  matter  of  such  vital  im- 
portance as  was  being  investigated,  know  the  atti- 
conference  with  san-    tude  of  leading  exponents  of  sanitary  science,  it 
Yorl/  prepared  and  submitted  a  series  of  questions  to  a 

number  of  sanitary  engineers  of  large  experience 
and  wide  reputation  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  namely :  Mr. 
George  W.  Fuller,  of  New  York  City ;  Prof.  Earle  B.  Phelps,  of  the 
United  States  Public  Health  Service;  Mr.  George  C.  Whipple,  of 
Harvard  University ;  Mr.  W.  S.  Lea,  of  Montreal ;  Mr.  T.  J.  Laf  re- 
niere,  of  the  Provisional  Board  of  Health  of  Quebec ;  and  Mr.  F.  A. 
Dallyn,  of  the  Provincial  Board  of  Health  of  Ontario.  These  six 
engineers  afterwards,  on  the  invitation  of  the  commission,  attended 
a  conference  with  it  in  the  city  of  New  York.4  They  are  hereafter 
referred  to  as  the  "  advisory  engineers."  Some  days  were  spent  in 
their  examination,  but  the  lengthy  testimony  they  gave  was  con- 
densed by  them  into  a  resume  of  14  points,  as  follows : 5 

1.  Speaking  generally,  water  supplies  taken  from  streams  and  lakes  which 

receive   the   drainage  of  agricultural   and   grazing  lands, 

lU-sume  of  testimony,     rural  communities,  and  unsewered  towns  are  unsafe  for 

use  without  purification,  but  are  safe  for  use  if  purified. 

2.  Water  supplies  taken  from  streams  and  lakes  into  which  the  sewage  of 
cities  and  towns  is  directly  discharged  are  safe  for  use  after  purification,  pro- 
vided that  the  load  upon  the  purifying  mechanism  is  not  too  great  and  that  a 
sufficient  factor  of  safety  is  maintained,  and,  further,  provided  that  the  plant 
is  properly  operated. 

3.  As,  in  general,  the  boundary  waters  in  their  natural  state  are  relatively 
clear  and  contain  but  little  organic  matter,  the  best  index  of  pollution  now 
available  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  a  water-purification  plant  is 
overloaded  is  the  number  of  B.  coli  per  100  cubic  centimeters  of  water  expressed 
as  an  annual  average  and  determined  from  a  considerable  number  of  confirma- 
tory tests  regularly  made  throughout  the  year. 

1  Preliminary  report  of  committee  having  general  supervision  of  the  investigation  re- 
lating to  the  pollution  of  boundary  waters ;  with  documents     *     *     *     relating  to  the 
petitions  of  the  Erie   and   Ontario   Sanitary   Canal   Co.    for   permission   to   divert   6,000 
second-feet  from  Lake  Erie.     1913. 

2  Hearings  of  the  Intel-national  Joint  Commission  in  re  remedies  for  the  pollution  of 
boundary  waters  between  the  United  States  and  Canada.     1914. 

8  Hearings  of  the  International  Joint  Commission  in  re  remedies  for  the  pollution  of 
boundary  waters  between  the  United  States  and  Canada.  1916. 

4  Conference  with  sanitary  engineers  at  New  York  City,  May  26  and  27,  1914. 

B  Resume1  of  testimony  of  consulting  sanitary  engineers  in  the  matter  of  the  pollution 
of  boundary  waters,  New  York,  1914. 


14  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

4.  While  present  information  does  not  permit  a  definite  limit  of  safe  loading 
of  a  water-purification  plant  to  be  established,  it  is  our  judgment  that  this 
limit  is  exceeded  if  the  annual  average  number  of  B.  coli  in  the  water  delivered 
to  the  plant  is  higher  than  about  500  per  100  cubic  centimeters,  or  if  in  0.1 
cubic  centimeter  samples  of  the  water  B.  coli  is  found  50  per  cent  of  the  time. 
With  such  a  limit  the  number  of  B.  coli  would  be  less  than  the  figure  given 
during  a  part  of  the  year  and  would  be  exceeded  during  some  periods. 

5.  In  waterways  where  some  pollution  is  inevitable  and  where  the  ratio  of 
the  volume  of  water  to  the  volume  of  sewage  is  so  large  that  no  local  nuisance 
can  result,  it  is  our  judgment  that  the  method  of  sewage  disposal  by  dilution 
represents  a  natural  resource  and  that  the  utilization  of  this  resource  is  justi- 
fiable for  economic  reasons,  provided  that  an  unreasonable  burden  or  responsi- 
bility is  not  placed  upon  any  water-purification  plant  and  that  no  menace  to 
the  public  health  is  occasioned  thereby. 

6.  While  realizing  that  in  certain  cases  the  discharge  of  crude  sewage  into 
the  boundary  waters  may  be  without  danger,  it  is  our  judgment  that  effective 
sanitary  administration  requires  the  adoption  of  the  general  policy  that  no 
untreated  sewage  from  cities  or  towns  shall  be  discharged  into  the  boundary 
waters. 

7.  The  nature  of  the  sewage  treatment  required  should  vary  according  to 
the  local  conditions,  each  community  being  permitted  to  take  advantage  of  its 
situation  with  respect  to  local  conditions  and  its  remoteness  from  other  com- 
munities, with  the  intent  that  the  cost  of  sewage  treatment  may  be  kept  reason- 
ably low. 

8.  In  general,  the  simplest  allowable  method  of  sewage  treatment,  such  as 
would  be  suitable  for  small  communities  remote  from  other  communities,  should 
be  the  removal  of  the  larger  suspended  solids  by  screening  through  a  one-fourth 
inch  mesh  or  by  sedimentation. 

9.  In  general,  no  more  elaborate  method  of  sewage  treatment  should  be  re- 
quired than  the  removal  of  the  suspended  solids  by  fine  screening  or  by  sedi- 
mentation, or  both,  followed  by  chemical  disinfection  or  sterilization  of  the 
clarified  sewage.    Except  in  the  case  of  some  of  the  smaller  streams  on  the 
boundary,  it  is  our  judgment  that  such  oxidizing  processes  as  intermittent  sand 
filtration  and  treatment  by  sprinkling  filters,  contact  beds,  and  the  like,  are 
unnecessary,  inasmuch  as  ample  dilution  in  the  lakes  and  large  streams  will 
provide  sufficient  oxygen  for  the  ultimate  destruction  of  the  organic  matter. 

10.  Disinfection  or  sterilization  of  the  sewage  of  a  community  should  be  re- 
quired wherever  there  is  danger  of  the  boundary  waters  being  so  polluted  that 
the  load  on  any  water-purification  plant  becomes  greater  than  the  limit  above 
mentioned. 

11.  It  is  our  opinion  that,  in  general,  protection  of  public  water  supplies  is 
more  economically  secured  by  water  purification  at  the  intake  than  by  sewage 
purification  at  the  sewer  outlet,  but  that  under  some  conditions  both  water 
purification  and  sewage  treatment  may  be  necessary. 

12.  The  bateriological  tests  which  have  been  made  in  large  numbers  under 
the  direction  of  the  International   Joint  Commission  indicate  that   in  most 
places  the  pollution  of  the  boundary  waters  is  such  as  to  be  a  general  menace 
to  the  public  health  should  the  water  be  used  without  purification  as  sources 
of  public  water  supply  or  should  they  be  used  for  drinking  purposes  by  persons 
traveling  in  boats. 

13.  It  is  our  judgment  that  the  drinking  water  used  on  vessels  traversing 
boundary  waters  should  not  be  taken  indiscriminately  from  the  water  traversed, 
unless  subjected  to  adequate  purification,  but  should  be  obtained  preferably 
from  safe  sources  of  supply  at  the  terminals. 


POLLUTION  OP  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  15 

14.  While  recognizing  that  the  direct  discharge  of  fecal  matter  from  boats 
into  the  boundary  waters  may  often  be  without  danger,  yet  in  the  interest  of 
effective  sanitary  administration  it  is  our  judgment  that  the  indiscriminate  dis- 
charge of  unsterilized  fecal  matter  from  vessels  into  the  boundary  waters 
should  not  be  permitted. 

These  views  of  the  advisory  engineers  were  given  after  most 
mature  consideration  on  their  part,  and  not  only  have  they  been 
of  great  assistance  to  the  commission  in  arriving  at  the  conclusions 
and  recommendations  expressed  in  this  report,  but  their  thorough- 
ness and  exhaustiveness  have  been  recognized  by  scientists  on  this 
continent  and  in  Europe,  frequent  applications  having  been  made  to 
the  commission  for  copies  of  both  the  testimony  and  the  resume. 

It  was  necessary  that  the  commission  should  form  some  reliable 
estimate  of  the  cost  of  installing  the  requisite 
remedial  works,  and  it  determined  to  carry  on  its 
investigations  in  such  detail  that  the  engineering 
possibilities  and  difficulties  would  be  fully  considered  and  the  cost 
of  the  ultimate  projects  determined  within  reasonably  close  limits. 
Prof.  Earle  B.  Phelps,  of  the  United  States  Public  Health  Service, 
was  engaged  as  the  commission's  consulting  engineer  and  was  put 
in  charge  of  the  investigation.  Engineering  offices  were  established 
at  Detroit  and  Buffalo,  each  office  comprising  a  small  but  well- 
organized  force,  under  Prof.  Phelps'  supervision,  but  in  immediate 
charge  of  a  district  engineer.  The  Detroit  office  had  charge  of  the 
investigation  in  the  cities  and  towns  bordering  upon  the  St.  Clair 
and  Detroit  Rivers,  and  the  Buffalo  office  had  charge  of  the  investi- 
gation along  the  Niagara  River.  The  investigations  covered  the 
following  cities  and  towns : 

In  the  United  States:  Port  Huron,  St.  Clair,  Marine  City,  Al- 
gonac,  Detroit,  River  Rouge,  Ecorse,  Ford  City,  Wyandotte,  Tren- 
ton, Lackawanna,  Buffalo,  Tonawanda,  North  Tonawanda,  Lasalle, 
Kemnore,  Niagara  Falls,  Lewiston,  and  Youngstown. 

In  Canada:  Sarnia,  Ford,  Walkerville,  Windsor,  Sandwich,  Am- 
herstburg,  Fort  Erie,  Bridgeburg,  Chippewa,  Niagara  Falls,  Queens- 
ton,  and  Niagara-on-the-Lake. 

All  of  these  cities  and  towns  were  asked  to  assist  in  the  investi- 
gations in  which  they  were  respectively  concerned.  The  examina- 
tions at  Detroit  and  Buffalo  were  of  much  greater  magnitude  'than 
the  others,  and  this  fact,  coupled  with  the  wish  of  the  commission 
that  these  cities  should  be  associated  with  the  investigation  in  which 
they  were  interested,  led  to  an  invitation  being  extended  to  their 
officials  to  collaborate  with  the  consulting  sanitary  engineer  in  tho 
prosecution  of  his  work ;  and  the  commission  expresses  its  apprecia 
tion  of  their  sympathetic  and  efficient  cooperation. 


16  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

On  December  5, 1914,  Detroit  appointed  Mr.  Clarence  W.  Hubbell, 

a  consulting  sanitary  engineer,  to  review  the  data 
iic^ntaoriticB  **  Pnb  an(^  ^ne  conclusions  of  the  commission's  sanitary 

experts,  and  to  report  what  means,  if  any,  should 
be  adopted  by  the  city  for  the  purification  of  its  sewage,  and  to 
what  extent  it  would  be  justified  in  incurring  expense  for  that  pur- 
pose. Mr.  Hubbell's  office  cooperated  most  closely  with  the  com- 
mission's Detroit  office  during  the  whole  period  of  the  investigation 
so  far  as  the  work  related  to  Detroit ;  and  the  commission  is  pleased 
to  report  that  his  recommendations  to  the  city  and  the  recommenda- 
tions of  the  consulting  engineer  of  the  commission  are  in  substantial 
accord.  Buffalo  furnished  office  space  and  equipment  for  the  com- 
mission's staff  at  that  city  and  furthered  the  progress  of  the  investi- 
gation by  supplying  all  information  in  its  possession  and  by  ren- 
dering valuable  assistance  to  the  commission's  engineers,  in  addi- 
tion to  making  readily  available  all  city  maps  and  documents  re- 
quired. 

The  commission  also  expresses  its  satisfaction  with  the  readiness 
and  promptness  with  which  the  smaller  cities  and  towns  furnished 
the  maps,  data,  and  information  in  their  possession.  The  Provincial 
and  State  health  authorities  also  afforded  the  commission's  engineers 
valuable  assistance  by  providing  them  with  maps  and  data  in  their 
possession  relating  to  the  sewerage  systems  of  those  cities  and  towns. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  in  the  Province  of  Ontario.  The  re- 
ports of  the  Chief  of  Engineers  of  the  United  States  Army  supplied 
hydraulic  data  of  great  importance,  especially  the  data  dealing  with 
Great  Lakes  levels,  river  discharges,  and  elevations. 

The  investigations  began  in  March,  1915,  and  were  completed  in 

March,  1916.    In  carrying  them  out  it  was  neces- 
Treatment  projects,      sary  to  prepare  plans  for  treatment  works  adapted 

to  local  requirements  and  sufficient  for  the  general 
needs  of  the  situation.  For  economic  reasons  the  consulting  engineer 
adopted  the  existing  sewerage  systems  as  points  of  departure.  When 
available,  sites  for  treatment  works  were  tentatively  determined  upon 
and  the  necessary  collecting  systems  were  planned  to  bring  the  sewage 
to  these  points.  This  procedure  was  necessarily  largely  experimental, 
as  there  were  usually  several  possible  and  available  sites  for  treat- 
ment works  and  frequently  more  than  one  possible  system  of  main 
drainage.  It  was  also  necessary  to  plan  these  works  with  due  regard 
to  the  future  growth  of  the  cities,  and  consequently  in  some  instances 
sewer  interceptors  were  planned  for  sections  thereof  almost  wholly 
undeveloped.  This  procedure  generally  led  to  the  tentative  adoption 
of  several  major  projects,  all  of  them  feasible  and  practicable,  but 
differing  in  the  type  of  treatment  works,  in  the  number  and  location 
of  the  concentration  points  for  treatment,  the  arrangement  of  trunk- 


POLLUTION   OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  17 

line  interceptors,  and  the  substitution  in  some  cases  of  pumping-sta- 
tion  plants  for  deeper  interceptor  construction.  In  each  case  these 
various  projects  were  worked  out  in  detail,  the  necessary  structures 
were  designed  to  a  point  sufficient  for  comparative  cost  estimates,  and 
they  were  then  compared  upon  the  basis  of  cost  and  general  desir- 
ability. No  attempt  was  made  to  exhaust  all  the  possibilities;  and 
it  is  not  assumed  that  the  remedial  works  planned  are  the  most  eco- 
nomic or  desirable.  Neither  time  nor  funds  were  available  for  field 
surveys,  except  in  some  minor  instances,  such  surveys  not  being  con- 
sidered essential  to  the  work.  The  engineering  investigations  were 
naturally  and  necessarily  much  less  detailed  than  would  be  those  in 
connection  with  a  city  about  to  construct  new  works.  They  were, 
however,  in  sufficient  detail  to  develop  in  the  case  of  all  cities  and 
towns  feasible  and  workable  plans  for  the  collection  and  treatment  of 
their  sewage.  The  estimated  cost  is  ample  for  the  application  of  sat- 
isfactory remedial  measures.  Details  of  the  proposed  plans  for  col- 
lecting and  treating  the  sewage  of  the  various  cities  and  towns  are  set 
forth  in  the  report  of  the  consulting  engineer.1 

As  soon  as  this  report  was  submitted  to  the  commission  it  was 
printed,  and  copies  were  supplied  to  the  different 
Meetings.  municipalities  along  the  Niagara,  Detroit,  and  St. 

Clair  Eivers,  with  an  invitation  to  attend  the  meet- 
ings of  the  commission  held,  as  before  mentioned,  at  Buffalo  and 
Detroit  in  June,  1916.2  At  these  meetings  the  remedies  suggested 
by  the  consulting  engineer  were  discussed  with  the  representatives 
of  the  various  municipalities  interested.  A  meeting  of  the  commis- 
sion was  also  held  at  Ogdensburg  in  August,  1916,  at  which  a  large 
number  of  the  municipalities  on  the  upper  St.  Lawrence  were  repre- 
sented by  their  mayors,  city  engineers,  and  health  officers. 

The  commission  also  devoted  considerable  attention  to  the  investi- 
gation of  existing  methods  of  sewage  disposal. 

1  Report  of  the  consulting  sanitary  engineer  upon  remedial  measures,  Mar.  8,  1916. 
1  Hearings  of  the  International  Joint  Commission  in  re  remedies  for  the  pollution  of 
boundary  waters  between  the  United  States  and  Canada.     1916. 

87873—18 2 


III.— EXISTING  POLLUTION. 

The  first  question  in  the  reference  is — 

To  what  extent  and  by  what  causes  and  in  what  localities  have  the  boundary 
waters  between  the  United  States  and  Canada  been  polluted  so  as  to  be  in- 
jurious to  the  public  health  and  unfit  for  domestic  or  other  uses? 

To  enable  the  commission  to  answer  this  question  the  detailed  bac- 
teriological examination  hereinbefore  described  was 

Sources  and  extent  made  by  the  sanitary  experts.  A  brief  epitome  only 
of  their  report  can  be  given  here.  An  extensive 
examination  was  made  of  the  waters  in  Thunder  Bay  and  White  Fish 
Bay  of  Lake  Superior,  the  lower  end  of  Lake  Huron,  and  the  eastern 
ends  of  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Ontario.  They  were  found  to  be  prac- 
tically free  from  B.  coli  in  100  c.  c.  quantities,  and  to  have  a  bac- 
terial count  of  less  than  10  on  agar  at  37°  C.  This,  then,  is  the  con- 
dition of  the  water  as  it  enters  the  St.  Marys,  St.  Clair,  Niagara,  and 
St.  Lawrence  Rivers.  The  lower  portions  of  Lake  St.  Clair  and 
Rainy  Lake,  the  sources  of  the  Detroit  and  Rainy  Rivers,  respectively, 
while  appreciably  polluted  by  agricultural  and  other  drainage,  show 
a  remarkable  freedom  from  extensive  bacterial  pollution. 

The  waters  of  Rainy  River,  St.  Marys  River,  St.  Clair  River,  and 
of  the  Detroit  and  Niagara  Rivers,  in  consequence  of  the  unrestricted 
discharge  of  sewage  from  vessels  and  towns,  are  no  longer  fit  for 
domestic  use  unless  subjected  to  extensive  treatment  in  water-purifi- 
cation plants.  Below  the  cities  of  Detroit  and  Buffalo  the  waters  of 
the  Detroit  and  Niagara  Rivers,  respectively,  are  so  intensely  pol- 
luted that  it  is  highly  questionable  whether  by  the  aid  of  any  ordinary 
purification  plant  they  can  be  made  at  all  suitable  for  drinking 
purposes. 

The  waters  of  Rainy  Lake,  Rainy  River,  and  Lake  of  the  Woods 
were  examined  during  the  period  from  July  8  to 

Bainy  Lake,  Rainy    jujy  22,  1913.    In  this  examination  995  specimens 

River,     Lake     of    the  ,,       ,     ,  ,  ,     ,  r¥M  . 

Woodg>  were  collected  and  reported  upon.    The  waters  of 

Rainy  Lake,  subjected  to  agricultural   drainage, 

showed  a  pollution  amounting  to  19  B.  coli  per  100  c.  c.,  presumably 

the  effect  of  this  drainage,  and  of  the  construction  of  a  big  fill  for 

railway  purposes.    The  drinking  water  of  the  towns  of  Fort  Frances 

and  International  Falls  is  taken  from  the  head  of  Rainy  River,  and 

18 


POLLUTION  OP  BOUNDARY   WATERS.  19 

was  found  to  be  seriously  contaminated  owing  to  the  discharge  of 
polluting  matter  in  the  vicinity  of  the  respective  waterworks  intakes. 
Below  the  falls  a  very  considerable  pollution,  averaging  about  300 
B.  coli  per  100  c.  c.,  exists  throughout  the  length  of  the  river.  This 
is  mainly  attributable  to  the  discharge  of  raw  sewage  by  these  towns. 
The  polluted  condition  of  the  river  is  augmented  by  drainage  from 
farms  and  small  villages  located  at  intervals  along  its  banks,  and 
markedly  by  sewage  from  the  towns  of  Rainy  River  and  Baudette. 

An  examination  was  made  of  the  water  in  the  Lake  of  the  Woods 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  mouth  of  Rainy  River  and  showed  an  average 
of  only  34  B.  coli  per  100  c.  c.  It  appears  that  the  self-purification 
and  dilution  had  here  operated  to  lessen  pollution  in  the  river. 

Rainy  River  throughout  its  entire  course  has  been  rendered  unfit 
for  domestic  uses  owing  to  the  unrestricted  discharge  of  sewage  and 
other  wastes.  The  population  along  the  banks  is  sparse,  with  the 
exception  of  that  of  the  villages  and  towns.  If  subjected  to  exten- 
sive water  purification,  the  river  may  be  used  as  a  source  of  drinking- 
water  supply. 

The  waters  of  Thunder  Bay  were  examined  during  the  period 
from  July  28  to  August  15,  1913.  In  all,  922  sam- 
Thnnder  Bay.  pies  of  water  were  collected  and  reported  upon. 

Thunder  Bay  is  extensively  polluted  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  towns  of  Port  Arthur  and  Fort  William,  but  not  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  affect  Lake  Superior. 

The  waters  of  the  St.  Marys  River  were  examined  during  the 
period  from  June  28  to  July  16,  1913,  1,065  samples 

st.  Marys  Ri?er.  being  collected  and  reported  upon.  The  results  of 
the  investigation  show  that  Lake  Superior  at  the 
head  of  the  St.  Marys  River  is  practically  pure.  In  White  Fish  Bay 
the  pollution  measures  6.5  B.  coli  per  100  c.  c.  The  discharge  of 
sewage  from  vessels  was  shown  to  seriously  pollute  the  waters  in  the 
lanes  of  vessel  travel.  Especially  does  vessel  pollution  menace  the 
water  supplies  of  the  towns  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie  (Mich.)  and  Sault 
Ste.  Marie  (Ontario) .  The  average  pollution  at  the  waterworks  intake 
of  the  former  city  during  investigation  was  about  25  B.  coli  per  100 
c.  c.,  and  at  the  waterworks  intake  of  the  latter  over  200  B.  coli  per 
100  c.  c.  Below  the  towns  the  pollution  was  shown  to  increase  to 
291  B.  coli  per  100  c.  c.  A  serious  condition  of  the  river  continues, 
although  in  a  less  pronounced  degree,  down  to  Neebish  Island. 

The  pollution  present  in  this  river,  due  to  the  discharge  of  raw 
sewage  by  vessels  and  by  the  two  towns  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  affects 
very  seriously  the  only  available  water  supplies  for  summer  resi- 
dents and  for  pleasure  boats  frequenting  its  waters.  Water  exam- 
ined in  the  Straits  of  Mackinac  proved  to  be  quite  pure. 


20  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

The  laboratories  stationed  at  Port  Huron,  Detroit,  and  Sarnia 

were  in  operation  during  May,  June,  July,  and 

Lake    Huron,   st.    August,  1913,  for  the  examination  of  the  waters 

Clair  Eifer,  Lake  St.         .,  c        ,  T     .  _.  «•**•• 

oi  the  lower  end  or  Lake  Huron,  River  St.  Clair. 


and  Lake  St.  Clair.  In  all,  2,336  samples  were 
examined  and  reported  upon.  The  examination  showed  that  the 
waters  of  Lake  Huron  at  the  head  of  the  river  would  be  practically 
free  from  B.  coli  were  it  not  for  the  pollution  from  vessel  sewage. 
Samples  taken  about  10  miles  up  the  lake  showed  absence  of  B.  coli 
even  in  100  c.  c.,  while  the  water  at  the  lower  end,  where  vessel 
pollution  is  concentrated,  showed  an  average  of  9  B.  coli  per  100 
c.  c.  Below  the  towns  of  Port  Huron  and  Sarnia  the  waters  of 
the  St.  Clair  River  for  a  stretch  of  about  34  miles  are  quite  unfit 
for  drinking  purposes  unless  extensively  treated,  the  B.  Coli  con- 
tent found  in  the  river  water  exceeding  200  per  100  c.  c.  The  pol- 
lution below  these  towns  is  due  to  the  combined  effects  of  the  dis- 
charge of  untreated  sewage  from  vessels  and  the  towns  along  the 
shores.  Any  tendency  toward  self-purification  of  the  river  by 
natural  agencies  is  counterbalanced  by  the  sewage  and  drainage 
from  the  small  villages  and  residences  along  its  course. 

Lake  St.  Clair,  which  receives  the  discharge  of  the  river,  showed 
less  evidence  of  pollution.  Natural  agencies  promote  in  the  lake 
a  purification  not  found  in  the  river. 

The  laboratories  for  the  study  of  the  Detroit  River  and  the  western 
end  of  Lake  Erie  stationed  '  at  Detroit,  Windsor, 

Detroit  River   and    Amherstburg,  and  on  the  United  States  revenue 

western   end   of  Lake  ,..         .„  ,     -i     i       •          ,1  ,t 

Erie.  cutter  Mornll,  were  operated  during  the  months 

of  May,  June,  July,  August,  September,  and  Octo- 
ber, 1913.  Some  5,353  samples  were  collected  and  examined,  includ- 
ing those  taken  in  the  western  end  of  Lake  Erie  and  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Detroit  River.  The  situation  with  reference  to  the  Detroit 
River  is  described  by  the  sanitary  experts  in  their  report  to  the  com- 
mission ill  1914,1  as  follows  : 

The  results  of  our  analyses  of  samples  taken  above  the  intake  for  the  Detroit 
city  water  supply  showed  this  to  be  an  unsafe  source  of  supply  without  careful 
treatment.  *  *  *  Samples  taken  along  the  several  cross  sections  from  this 
point  to  the  site  of  the  Michigan  Central  tunnel  showed  a  marked  increase  of 
pollution  in  the  shore  samples. 

The  water  intakes  of  Walkerville  and  Windsor  are  both  located  in  dangerous 
situations,  owing  to  the  discharge  of  sewage  above  these  intakes  and  to  a 
potential  danger  of  climatological  variation  diverting  the  intense  shore  pollu- 
tion to  points  from  whence  it  would  affect  the  water  intakes.  In  spite  of  the 
efforts  made  by  these  towns  to  protect  their  supplies  by  means  of  chlorination, 

1  Progress  report  of  the  International  Joint  Commission  on  the  Reference  by  the 
United  States  and  Canada  In  re  the  Pollution  of  Boundary  Waters.  Including  report  of 
the  sanitary  experts.  1914. 


POLLUTION  OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  21 

the  typhoid  rates  remain  too  high.  At  times  the  pollution  is  so  great  that  the 
quantity  of  chlorine  required  to  overcome  it  gives  an  objectionable  taste  to  the 
water. 

******* 

Samples  taken  from  a  cross  section  over  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad  tun- 
nel showed  gross  pollution  at  sample  points  near  the  Canadian  and  United 
States  shores,  and  a  considerable  pollution  extending  across  the  entire  river. 
Samples  taken  from  several  cross  sections  showed  gross  pollution  throughout 
the  entire  river  from  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad  tunnel  to  Fighting  Island. 

From  Fighting  Island  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  the  water  is  grossly  polluted 
and  totally  unfit  as  a  source  of  water  supply.  It  is  our  opinion  that  such  raw 
water  would  impose  an  unreasonable  responsibility  on  any  known  method  of 
purification,  even  with  the  morft  careful  supervision.  Unfortunately,  Wyan- 
dotte,  Trenton,  and  Amherstburg  are  taking  their  water  supplies  from  this  part 
of  the  river. 

The  extensive  pollution  of  the  Detroit  River  is  perhaps  better  indi- 
cated by  saying  that  at  its  head  the  B.  coli  count  is  approximately 
5  per  100  c.  c.,  and  in  the  lower  portions  just  below  Amherstburg  it 
reaches  the  enormous  figure  of  10,592  B.  coli  per  100  c.  c. 

The  pollution  in  the  Detroit  River  is  occasioned  by  the  discharge 
of  raw  sewage  from  its  riparian  communities,  notably  the  city  of 
Detroit,  and  by  the  sewage  from  vessels. 

The  investigations  at  the  laboratories  at  Detroit,  Windsor,  and 
Amherstburg  show  that  while  the  waters  of  the  western  end  of  Lake 
Erie  are  extensively  polluted  by  the  flow  of  the  Detroit  River,  this 
pollution  does  not  extend  past  the  islands  which  separate  this  end 
from  the  remainder  of  the  lake. 

Lake  Erie,  outside  of  this  polluted  area  and  the 

Lake  Eric.  polluted  areas  at  the  mouths  of  its  tributaries  and 

its  littoral  waters,  affords  a  remarkable  instance  of 

self -purification.   The  purity  of  the  main  body  of  the  lake  was  amply 

established  by  examination  of  its  water  at  several  widely  separated 

stations. 

The  laboratories  for  the  study  of  the  Niagara  River  established 
at  Buffalo,  Port  Erie,  Niagara-on-the-Lake,  and 

Niagara  Birer.  Youngstown  were  operated  during  the  months  of 

May,  June,  and  July,  1913,  4,137  samples  of  water 
being  collected  and  examined.  This  investigation  showed  that  above 
Niagara  Falls  the  great  bulk  of  the  pollution  in  the  river,  and  due  to 
the  discharge  of  sewage  therein,  is  confined  to  the  marginal  waters 
of  the  country  in  which  it  originates  and  that  the  sewage  of  Buffalo 
is  polluting  to  a  serious  extent  the  available  water  supplies  of  the 
two  Tonawandas  and  the  city  of  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 

The  effect  of  the  pollution  of  the  lower  Niagara  is  to  render  the 
river  water  totally  unfit  for  domestic  uses  unless  purified.  All  of 
the  lower  municipalities  have  been  forced  to  install  and  operate 
water-purification  plants,  and  the  results  of  their  operation  show 


22  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

only  too  clearly  that  the  use  of  the  water  is  accompanied  by  no 
proper  margin  of  safety. 

The  investigation  revealed  the  fact  that  the  waters  of  Lake  Ontario 
are  comparatively  free  from  B.  coli,  with  the  ex- 
Lake  Ontario.  ception  of  an  18-mile  radius  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Niagara  Eiver,  of  limited  areas  at  the  mouths 
of  other  rivers,  and  of  the  littoral  waters  of  the  lake  and  of  the  lanes 
of  vessel  travel. 

The  laboratories  operated  at  Kingston  and  Clayton,  as  well  as  at 

Montreal,  during  the  months  of  April,  May,  and 

st.  Lawrence  Bher.     August,  1913,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the 

waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  collected  and 

examined  1,890  samples. 

The  St.  Lawrence  Eiver  is  the  only  water  supply  available  for 
the  summer  residents  at  the  Thousand  Islands  and  for  the  communi- 
ties along  its  banks. 

During  the  period  of  examination  it  was  observed  that  the  pres- 
ent practice  of  unrestricted  discharge  of  sewage  renders  certain 
areas  unfit  sources  of  drinking  water.  Before  the  tourists  appear  in 
June,  with  the  consequent  increase  of  boat  traffic,  the  waters  are  in 
a  remarkable  state  of  purity.  Below  the  Thousand  Islands  popu- 
lation is  denser  and  considerable  pollution  exists  throughout  the 
river,  the  source  of  which  is  the  discharge  of  sewage  from  vessels 
and  from  the  riparian  communities. 

The  laboratories  stationed  at  Van  Buren  in  October,  1913,  for  the 
study   of   the   St.   John   Eiver  collected   and   ex- 
st.  John  Hirer.          amined  672  samples.    The  pollution  in  this  river 
amounted  to  about  125  B.  coli  per  100  c.  c.  in  the 
late  fall.     This  is  excessive  in  comparison  with  the  figures  in  the 
Detroit  and  Niagara  Eivers,  population  and  stream  flow  considered. 
This  abnormal  condition  is  attributable  in  large  measure  to  the 
potato  starch  factories  located  along  this  river,  the  waste  from  which 
contains  large  numbers  of  bacteria  capable  of  fermenting  lactose. 
Eeference  has  already  been  made  to  the  numerous  vessels  navigat- 
ing boundary  waters  and  their  enormous  floating 
T«»ei  pollution.        population  and  the  pollution  resulting  therefrom. 
This  pollution  not  only  clearly  exists  in  boundary 
rivers,  in  harbors,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  water  intakes,  but  was 
found  to  a  harmful  extent  in  the  Great  Lakes,  where  its  presence 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  vessels  navigating  lake  waters  ply  in  compara- 
tively narrow  lanes  in  order  to  avoid  collision  in  the  nighttime  or 
during  fog.     Upbound  vessels  follow  one  track  and  down-bound 
vessels  follow  another,  and  the  pollution  is  confined  to  the  vicinity 
of  these  lanes. 


POLLUTION   OF   BOUNDARY  WATERS.  23 

Pollution  from  vessels  is  of  two  kinds:  (1)  Raw  sewage  in  the 
shape  of  human  excreta,  garbage,  etc.,  and  (2)  water  ballast  dis- 
charged by  vessels  on  approaching  ports  of  designation.  This 
pollution  is  a  serious  menace  to  public  health,  not  alone  through 
the  possible  contamination  of  the  public  water  supplies  near  their 
intakes,  but  also  by  reason  of  its  effect  upon  the  water  supplies  of 
other  vessels  following  or  crossing  the  same  routes. 

Complaints  were  made  to  the  commission  regarding  a  form  of  pol- 
lution which  is  not  of  a  bacteriological  character, 
truia™tl.and  Indl""  existing  in  the  St.  John  and  Eainy  Rivers.  It  re- 
sults from  the  deposit  of  sawdust  and  other  saw- 
mill wastes  in  the  streams,  frequently  causing  nuisances  by  making 
the  shores  and  bed  of  the  stream  unsightly,  unclean,  and  malodorous. 
This  pollution  is  also  injurious  to  fish  life.  At  International  Falls 
and  at  Fort  Frances  objection  was  also  made  to  the  discharge  of 
wastes  from  the  pulp  mills  on  the  Rainy  River.  Like  complaints 
were  made  with  respect  to  the  St.  Croix  River,  which  in  part  forms 
the  boundary  line  between  New  Brunswick  and  the  State  of  Maine. 
The  pollution  complained  of  in  the  case  of  the  pulp  mills  was  chiefly 
due  to  chemical  waste  resulting  from  the  manufacture  of  pulp. 
This  form  of  pollution  is  also  injurious  to  fish  life  and  the  fishing 
industry.  The  pollution  from  sawmill  and  pulp -mill  wastes  has  in 
every  instance  transboundary  effects  detrimental  to  property  and 
health. 

With  the  exception  of  sawmill  and  pulp-mill  wastes  no  reference 
has  been  made  to  industrial  and  chemical  wastes  as  a  source  of  pol- 
lution. Contamination  from  these  sources  is  at  present  so  limited 
and  local  in  its  extent  that  the  commission  did  not  regard  it  as  of 
sufficient  moment  from  an  international  standpoint  to  call  for  any 
extensive  scientific  investigation.  Unquestionably  in  the  future, 
unless  preventive  measures  are  taken,  pollution  from  all  these  wastes 
will  have  a  very  injurious  effect,  and  the  commission  has  not  been 
unmindful  of  this  fact  in  preparing  the  recommendations  herein- 
after made. 

The  grossly  polluted  condition  of  boundary  waters  is  doubtless 
the  cause  of  the  abnormal  prevalence  of  typhoid 
ust^01  fever  throughout  the  territory  bordering  thereon. 

The  table  following  gives  the  statistics  of  death 
from  typhoid  fever  in  the  cities  and  towns  therein  mentioned  for 
a  period  of  14  years,  beginning  with  the  year  1903 : 


24  FINAL  EEPOET  INTEBNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

Typhoid  death  rates  per  100,000  of  population. 


1903 

1904 

1905 

1906 

1907 

1908 

1909 

1910 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

1915 

1916 

Rainy  River: 
International     Falls, 
Minn  

Fort  Frances,  Ontario  .  . 
Baudette,  Minn  

665 

665 

775 

96 

86 

133 

66 

393 

342 

0 

72 

0 

0 

0 

Rainy  River,  Ontario... 
St.  Mary's  River: 
Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Mich... 
SaultSte.  Marie,  Ontario 
St.  Clair  River: 
Port  Huron,  Mich... 

0 

115 

152 

25 

0 

52 
26 

35 

200 

68 
150 

15 

200 

59 
191 

56 

0 

17 
91 

46 

0 

73 
68 

21 

0 

56 
90 

58 

0 
24 

154 

74 

63 

54 
280 

48 

0 

23 
85 

197 

0 

22 
127 

10 

0 

29 

84 

0 

0 

7 
24 

5 

63 

7 
31 

30 

Sanaa,  Ontario  

116 

34 

33 

55 

87 

110 

82 

101 

148 

139 

45 

26 

34 

60 

etroit  River: 
Detroit,  Mich  

20 

17 

20 

21 

25 

19 

20 

23 

16 

17 

29 

13 

13 

15 

Wallcerville,  Ontario  
Windsor,  Ontario  

0 
30 

47 
59 

0 
42 

40 
41 

0 

78 

35 
63 

0 
56 

0 
49 

30 
34 

57 
38 

25 
10 

0 

27 

0 
35 

0 
0 

Sandwich,  Ontario.. 

122 

182 

57 

54 

52 

96 

47 

47 

0 

173 

35 

34 

35 

0 

Wyandotte.  Mich  

(i) 

(i) 

(1) 

72 

107 

123 

87 

75 

12 

54 

92 

33 

47 

63 

Trenton,  Mich  

166 

0 

164 

163 

80 

80 

0 

163 

0 

243 

0 

80 

0 

Amherstberg,  Ontario  .  . 
Niagara  River: 
Buffalo,  N.  Y  

0 
34 

0 
24 

0 
24 

83 
23 

0 
28 

0 
70 

40 
24 

0 
20 

78 
25 

118 
12 

37 

0 

42 

85 

Fort  Erie,  Ontario  
Bridgeburg,  Ontario  .  .  . 
North  Tonawanda,  N.Y 

0 
0 

108 
0 

0 
0 

0 
0 

?8 

99 
0 
46 

0 
68 
53 

0 
0 
51 

0 
0 
4? 

87 
0 
97 

0 
0 
16 

0 
56 
15 

0 
0 
60 

0 
0 
29 

0 
0 
36 

Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.... 
Niagara  Falls,  Ontario. 
Lewiston,  N.  Y  

127 
0 

140 
14 

181 
0 

150 
40 

131 

38 

103 

84 

87 
26 

98 
60 

194 
90 

67 
44 

23 

85 
0 

10 
34 
0 

0 
9 
0 

10 
27 
0 

Youngstown,  N.Y  

0 

0 

0 

0 

Niagara  -  on  -  the  -  Lake, 
Ontario  . 

0 

78 

78 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

60 

St.  Lawrence  River: 
Cape  Vincent,  N.Y. 

0 

0 

0 

0 

Kingston.  Ontario  

100 

22 

38 

38 

27 

32 

32 

80 

26 

32 

75 

43 

28 

5 

Clayton,  N.  Y  

0 

0 

0 

53 

Gananoque,  Ontario  
Alexandria,  N.  Y.  .  . 

55 

0 

0 

0 

27 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 
0 

0 
48 

0 

48 

0 
0 

Brockville,  Ontario  
Ogdonsburg,  N.  Y.  . 

66 
54 

66 
61 

22 

40 

109 
86 

21 

39 

43 
32 

32 
25 

10 

50 

42 
31 

64 
37 

10 

72 

162 

0 

Prescott,  Ontario  

0 

0 

34 

34 

103 

34 

0 

70 

36 

0 

n 

6 

0 

36 

Cornwall,  Ontario  

30 

45 

30 

90 

75 

111 

64 

64 

48 

61 

15 

30 

77 

73 

t 

1  Average  for  years  1889-1905,  85  deaths. 

It  may  be  incidently  mentioned  that  there  is  a  marked  improve- 
ment in  the  statistical  showing  in  the  period  since  the  commission's 
investigation  in  1913.  This  is  largely  attributable  to  the  fact  that 
in  consequence  of  this  investigation  greater  efforts  have  been  made 
to  protect  water  supplies  by  the  use  of  bleaching  powder  and  liquid 
chlorine.  The  condition,  however,  is  still  far  from  satisfactory. 
Notwithstanding  the  general  improvement,  violent  outbreaks  of  ty- 
phoid fever  have  occurred,  and  the  potential  danger  must  continue 
to  exist  in  view  of  the  extensive  pollution  of  these  waters  and  the 
limitations  and  inefficient  operation  of  water-purification  plants. 
Not  only  have  the  border  communities  suffered  from  this  condition, 
but  the  navigation  interests  have  also  been  injured  very  severely 
from  the  disastrous  outbreaks  consequent  on  the  use  of  polluted 
boundary  water. 


IV.— TRANSBOUNDARY  EFFECTS  OF  POLLUTION. 

This  report  so  far  has  dealt  with  pollution  generally  in  boundary 
waters.  The  reference  as  amended  calls  for  a  further  inquiry  into 
pollution  of  the  waters  on  one  side  of  the  boundary  line  which  may 
extend  to  and  effect  those  upon  the  other  side.  Some  persons  who 
appeared  before  the  commission  argued  for  a  literal  interpretation 
of  the  language  of  the  amended  reference  and  suggested  that  the 
only  pollution  with  which  the  commission  is  concerned  is  that  which 
actually  crosses  the  boundary  line  and  has  a  transboundary  effect. 
While  the  commission  does  not  accept  this  narrow  interpretation, 
it  must  consider  the  extent  to  which,  and  the  places  at  which,  pol- 
lution has  such  an  effect. 

The  most  intense  and  the  most  clearly  demonstrable  cases  of  pol- 
lution crossing  the  boundary  exist  in  the  Detroit 

Detroit  niter.  and   Niagara   Rivers.     The  city   of   Detroit   dis- 

charges into  the  former  all  the  raw  sewage  from 
its  estimated  population  of  850,000.  On  the  United  States  side  op- 
posite Amherstburg  the  pollution  of  the  river  reaches  the  enormous 
figure  of  10,392  B.  coli  per  100  c.  c.,  and  its  waters  from  that  point 
to  Lake  Erie  and  the  waters  of  that  lake  within  a  radius  of  about 
4  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  are  very  greatly  polluted.  Be- 
yond question  the  pollution  from  Detroit  and  the  towns  lower  down 
the  river  crosses  the  boundary  line  and  affects  detrimentally  health 
and  property  on  the  other  side.  A  notable  example  of  this  is  to  be 
found  in  the  condition  of  the  shore  waters  of  Bois  Blanc  Island,  a 
summer  resort  on  the  Canadian  side  of  the  river  which  is  extremely 
popular,  especially  with  the  inhabitants  of  Detroit.  The  island 
shore  waters  are  very  greatly  polluted  by  the  sewage  from  that  city. 
The  transboundary  effect  of  this  pollution  may  be  estimated  from 
the  data  given  in  Tables  XII,  XIII,  and  XIV,  and  the  maps  opposite 
pages  38,  39.  40,  41,  and  42  of  the  Progress  Report.  Transboundary 
effects  are  detectable  along  the  lower  stretches  of  the  river  generally. 
Owing  to  the  comparative  smallness  of  the  towns  on  the  Canadian 
side,  it  is  not  at  present  possible  to  trace  pollution  from  them  across 
the  boundary,  but  these  towns  are  growing  rapidly,  and  if  they  ever 
attain  anything  like  the  size  of  Detroit  or  Buffalo,  unless  successful 
preventive  or  remedial  measures  are  adopted,  the  river  will  be  ab- 
solutely unfit  for  domestic  purposes. 

25 


26  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

In  the  Niagara  River,  owing  to  the  discharge  into  it  by  the  city 
of  Buffalo  of  the  sewage  of  an  estimated  popula- 
Niagara  Hirer.  tion  of  500,000,  the  waters  below  the  city  on  the 

United  States  side  are  grossly  polluted.  This  pol- 
lution is  increased  by  the  sewage  from  towns  on  both  its  banks  but 
particularly  from  towns  on  the  United  States  side.  Until  the  Falls 
are  reached  the  great  bulk  of  the  pollution,  as  has  already  been 
stated,  is  confined  to  the  marginal  waters  into  which  it  is  discharged. 
At  the  Falls  and  in  the  rapids  below  the  Falls,  however,  the  waters 
are  thoroughly  intermixed;  and  the  entire  river  from  the  whirlpool 
to  Lake  Ontario  shows  an  intense  pollution  from  shore  to  shore  and 
from  the  surface  to  the  bed  of  the  stream.  The  flow  of  such  an 
enormous  quantity  of  grossly  polluted  water  into  the  lake  con- 
taminates its  waters  for  a  radius  of  about  18  miles  from  the  river's 
mouth.  The  intensity  of  this  pollution  may  be  judged  from  the 
data  given  in  Table  XIX  on  page  48  and  on  the  map  facing  that 
page  of  the  progress  report.  This  map  shows  that  the  maximum 
average  of  B.  coli  per  100  c.  c.  at  several  points  in  this  polluted  area 
of  the  lake  during  the  period  of  examination  by  the  sanitary  experts 
was  10,000.  The  Canadian  area  of  this  portion  was  found  to  be 
much  more  densely  polluted  than  the  United  States  area,  the  map 
showing  at  some  points  in  the  former,  distant  about  10  miles  from 
the  mouth  of  the  river  and  about  6  miles  from  the  international 
boundary  line,  a  maximum  average  count  of  1,000  B.  coli  per  100  c.  c. 
There  is  a  well-marked  crossing  of  pollution  from  one  side  to 
the  other  in  the  case  of  the  Rainy  River,  the 

J^i^JSr  st-  Maryg  River>  and  the  st-  John  River' al- 

though  much  less  pronounced  than  in  the  cases  of 
the  Detroit  and  Niagara. 

In  the  remaining  boundary  rivers  pollution  does  not  exist  to  as 
great  an  extent  as  in  the  Niagara  and  Detroit ; 
jKher  boundary  riy-  and  its  transboundary  effect,  where  such  effect  ex- 
ists, is  not  easy  of  detection.  The  communities 
along  their  banks  which  have  sewerage  systems  all  discharge  raw 
sewage  into  the  streams.  It  was  contended  that  the  polluting  mate- 
rial discharged  into  them  "hugs  their  shores,"  and  while  the  effect 
may  be  very  harmful  to  the  health  and  property  of  lower  com- 
munities on  the  same  side  of  a  river,  its  effect  upon  the  waters  on  the 
other  side  of  the  boundary  may  be,  and  in  the  case  of  the  larger 
rivers  is,  practically  nil.  In  judging  of  the  transboundary  results 
of  pollution  people  are  ordinarily  influenced  by  the  lack  of  palpable 
effect  at  or  near  the  point  where  the  sewage  is  discharged.  In  all  of 
the  boundary  waters,  notwithstanding  the  disposition  on  the  part 
of  the  urban  sewage  they  receive  "to  hug  the  shore"  (assuming 


POLLUTION   OF   BOUNDARY   WATERS.  27 

there  is  such  a  disposition),  winds,  cross  currents,  eddies,  rapids, 
shoals,  reefs,  ice  jams,  differences  in  specific  gravity  between  the 
sewage  and  the  water  of  the  streams,  the  form  and  varying  courses 
of  the  channel,  and  the  churning  of  the  waters  by  the  propellers  of 
steamboats  may,  and  in  some  cases  do,  cause  such  a  commingling  and 
diffusion  of  their  waters  that  the  pollution  originating  on  one  side 
is  carried  to  some  extent  to  the  other  side  of  the  stream,  although 
the  contaminating  element  may  be  so  colorless  as  not  to  be  detectable 
by  the  eye.  Even  in  cases  where  transboundary  evil  results  can  not 
be  proved  the  probability  of  the  pollution  on  one  side  passing  over 
or  affecting  the  waters  on  the  other  side  of  the  boundary  line  is  so 
great  that  the  inhabitants  on  the  latter  side  should  not  be  forced  to 
run  the  consequent  risk  to  life,  health,  and  property.  The  idea  is 
deeply  rooted  in  the  minds  of  many  that  running  water  always 
purifies  itself.  This  belief  was  put  forward  by  some  as  a  reason 
why  no  action  should  be  taken  in  respect  to  these  rivers.  Undoubt- 
edly water  does  purify  itself  if  it  receives  no  accretions  of  contamina- 
tion and  runs  in  its  course  a  sufficient  length  of  time.  The  banks 
of  these  remaining  boundary  rivers  are  generally  densely  peopled, 
and  the  communities  along  their  course  discharge  their  sewage  un- 
treated into  them,  thus  more  than  counteracting  this  cleansing  or 
purifying  influence. 

The  waters  of  the  Great  Lakes  constitute  a  class  by  themselves, 

and  except  at  the  points  where  the  Niagara  and 
The  Great  Lakes.        Detroit  Rivers  enter  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Ontario, 

respectively,  there  is  no  pollution  in  them  which 
crosses  from  one  side  of  the  boundary  line  to  the  other,  except  it  may 
be  vessel  pollution.  This  is  clear  when  the  condition  of  the  central 
portions  of  the  lakes  is  considered.  Outside  of  a  margin  along  their 
shores  and  the  polluted  areas  at  the  mouths  of  the  rivers  tributary  to 
them,  these  waters  are,  with  the  exception  of  places  where  pollution 
from  vessels  exists,  in  their  pristine  purity.  Take  Lake  Ontario  and 
Lake  Erie  for  examples.  'Notwithstanding  the  facts  that  these  lakes 
are  fed  entirely  by  streams  more  or  less  polluted,  including  the 
Niagara  and  Detroit  Rivers,  with  their  immense  flow  of  extremely 
contaminated  water,  and  that  there  is  poured  into  them  the  raw 
sewage  of  several  very  large  cities  and  towns,  so  efficacious  is  the  self- 
purifying  power  of  water  that,  with  the  exception  of  this  littoral 
margin  and  of  those  limited  areas  at  the  mouths  of  the  tributary 
rivers,  their  waters,  when  unaffected  by  vessel  pollution,  are  abso- 
lutely pure.  This  condition  is  an  interesting  one.  The  purifying 
power  of  nature,  assisted  by  time,  accomplishes  here  what  human 
agencies  and  human  resources  find  it  impossible  to  duplicate. 


28  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

Vessel  sewage,  which  was  found  on  examination  by  the  sanitary 
experts  to  be  a  much  greater  factor  in  polluting 
Jg'e!  boundary  waters  than  is  generally  supposed,  is  a 
matter  of  great  international  moment,  and  must  be 
referred  to  in  this  connection.  The  commission  does  not  commit  itself 
to  any  view  of  the  fiction  or  theory  of  vessel  territorially,  which 
has  been  much  discussed  by  writers  of  international  law,  but 
a  vessel  may,  and  for  the  purpose  of  this  investigation  the  commis- 
sion thinks  should,  be  looked  upon  as  a  portion  of  the  territory  of 
the  State  from  which  she  hails  or  in  which  she  is  registered.  If 
sewage  is  discharged  by  a  vessel  on  her  own  side  of  the  boundary 
and  then  passes  over  the  line,  and  there  affects  harmfully  health  and 
property,  the  treaty  is  violated  both  in  letter  and  in  spirit.  Is  viola- 
tion of  the  treaty,  however,  limited  to  cases  of  this  kind  ?  The  words 
of  the  treaty  are  broader  than  the  language  of  the  reference.  The 
latter,  taken  literally,  deals  with  pollution  in  boundary  waters 
on  one  side  of  the  boundary,  which  extends  to  and  affects  the  waters 
on  the  other,  or  which,  in  other  words,  has  both  a  transboundary 
extension  and  a  transboundary  effect.  To  bring  pollution  within  the 
treaty  it  need  only  have  one  of  these  features  —  a  transboundary 
effect. 

It  might  not  be  straining  too  much  the  language  of  the  treaty, 
"  health  and  property  on  the  other  "  (meaning  the  other  side  of  the 
boundary  line),  to  regard  it  as  indicative  of  national  ownership  or 
sovereignty  rather  than  location.  This  construction,  for  instance, 
would  prohibit  the  pollution  of  Canadian  boundary  waters  that 
might  injure  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  for  the  time  being 
were  exercising  their  treaty  right  to  free  and  open  navigation  of 
these  waters,  and  would  also  prohibit  pollution  of  the  United  States 
boundary  waters  by  Canadian  vessels  discharging  their  sewage 
therein.  If  the  language  is  susceptible  of  this  interpretation,  such  a 
construction  would  certainly  be  consonant  with  the  spirit  of  the 
treaty. 

Independently  of  the  point  whether  this  construction  is  or  is  not 
warranted,  the  relations  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  especially 
with  regard  to  boundary  waters,  demand  that  the  question  of  their 
pollution  should  be  treated  on  the  broadest  possible  lines. 

The  international  situation  along  the  boundary  line  is  a  phe- 

nomenal one.    Not  only  is  it  one  of  the  most  vital 

international  sitna-    practical  importance  to  each  country,  but  it  is  one 

(ion     along    boundary  .  .   ,  .  .  .,  ,.    .  .        ,„  „       -. 

on  which  each  nation  may  felicitate  itself  as  afford- 


ing a  great  object  lesson  to  the  world,  showing  how 
two  liberty-loving,  morally  directed,  and  law-abiding  peoples  can  live 
side  by  side  in  the  spirit  at  once  of  friendly  rivalry  and  perfect  peace. 
Along  the  thousand  miles  of  their  territorial  contact  from  the  At- 


POLLUTION   OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  29 

lantic  to  the  Pacific  there  is  nothing  which  suggests  the  existence  of 
enmity  or  the  possibility  of  military  strife.  The  provision  of  the 
treaty  of  Ghent  that  "  there  shall  be  a  firm  and  universal  peace  be- 
tween His  Britannic  Majesty  and  the  United  States,  and  between 
their  respective  countries,  territories,  cities,  towns,  and  people  of 
every  degree,  without  exception  of  places  or  persons,"  has  happily 
fair  promise  of  perpetual  observance.  Practically  the  two  peoples 
commingle  with  all  the  freedom  consistent  with  the  physical  and 
political  barriers  which  separate  them.  This  condition  has  led  to 
an  interweaving  of  interests  which  makes  the  bond  between  them 
one  of  more  than  international  comity.  The  treaty  right  of  naviga- 
tion is  exercised  at  present  to  an  enormous  extent,  and  in  the  future 
will  be  exercised  to  a  still  greater  extent.  Along  the  boundary 
waters  the  citizens  of  both  countries  fraternize  socially,  select  and 
patronize  their  summer  resorts,  invest  their  capital  and  engage  in 
industries  and  enterprises,  almost  without  regard  to  territorial 
sovereignty.  Such  freedom  of  intercourse,  however  laudable,  has 
the  attendant  danger  of  being  conducive  to  the  spread  of  disease  and 
infection  if  either  country  fails  to  observe  sanitary  principles.  The 
pollution  of  drinking  water  supplies  and  of  bathing  waters  at  Bois 
Blanc  Island,  on  the  lower  Niagara,  at  the  Thousand  Islands,  or  at 
other  summer  resorts,  or  of  the  waters  navigated  by  vessels  and 
yachts,  might  not  only  be  an  injury  to  the  immense  number  of  citi- 
zens of  both  countries  who  would  be  brought  immediately  in  con- 
tact with  the  pollution,  but  would  indirectly  be  a  source  of  great 
peril  to  hundreds  of  thousands  more.  To  illustrate  the  danger  the 
following  citation  is  made  from  the  United  States  Public  Health 
Service  Keport  for  1914,  volume  29,  page  393 : 

It  is  stated  that  during  one  short  period  of  the  summer's  cruise  (referring  to 
the  voyage  of  a  lake  boat)  77  cases  of  typhoid  fever  developed  as  the  result  of 
the  use  of  impure  drinking  water  taken  from  the  Detroit  River.  *  *  *. 

*  *  *  Investigations  by  this  service  of  similar  outbreaks  on  three  Great 
Lakes  vessels  during  the  summer  of  1913  showed  that  out  of  a  total  of  750 
people  there  were  over  300  cases  of  diarrhea  and  52  cases  of  typhoid  with  7 
deaths. 

The  lamentable  prevalence  of  typhoid  fever  referred  to  previously 
calls  for  consideration  in  this  broad  international  view  of  the  ques- 
tion of  pollution  of  boundary  waters. 


V.— INJURY  TO  HEALTH  AND  PROPERTY  WITHIN  THE  MEANING 
OF  THE  REFERENCE. 

The  commission  having  ascertained  the  necessary  facts,  both  as  to 
the  extent  and  effects,  including  the  transboundary 
effects,  of  existing  pollution,  was  confronted  with 
the  very  difficult  problem  of  deciding  whether  or 
not  the  effect  of  this  pollution  was  an  "injury"  to  health  and  prop- 
erty within  the  meaning  of  the  reference.  From  the  language  of  the 
second  question  in  the  reference  it  is  evident  that  the  object  which  the 
two  Governments  had  in  view  in  making  the  submission  was,  as  has 
been  previously  stated,  to  see  that  the  treaty  was  observed  in  its 
integrity.  This  object  is  expressed  as  follows: 

In  order     *     *     *     to  fulfill  the  obligations  undertaken  in  Article  IV  of  the 
treaty. 
Article  IV,  so  far  as  it  is  necessary  to  quote  it,  reads  as  follows : 

It  is  further  agreed  that  the  waters  herein  defined  as  boundary  waters  and 
waters  flowing  across  the  boundary  shall  not  be  polluted  on  either  side  to  the 
injury  of  health  or  property  on  the  other. 

The  controlling  words  of  this  prohibition  are  "to  the  injury  of 
health  or  property  on  the  other."  It  is  necessary  to  consider  the 
meaning  which  is  to  be  attached  to  the  word  "  injury."  Does  it  mean 
simply  harm  or  damage,  actual  or  potential,  to  health  or  property, 
without  regard  to  any  extrinsic  considerations,  such  as  justification 
or  excuse  on  the  part  of  those  who  cause  the  damage  or  ease  of  avoid- 
ance on  the  part  of  those  who  suffer  from  this  harm  or  damage  ?  It 
appears  to  the  commission  that  a  broader  and  more  liberal  view 
should  be  taken  than  would  suggest  an  affirmative  answer  to  this 
question.  It  is  necessary  to  consider  the  language  of  the  reference 
and  of  the  treaty,  and  also  the  law  and  practice  of  both  countries  with 
respect  to  the  pollution  of  waters. 

The  common  law  respecting  rights  in  streams  is  admirably  set 
forth  in  the  leading  textbooks  of  both  countries  on 
"  waters,"  and  is  especially  well  summarized  by 
Lord  Macnaghten  in  the  case  of  Young  v.  Sankier 
Distillery  Co.  et  al.,  decided  by  the  British  House  of  Lords  in  1893.1 

A  riparian  proprietor  is  entitled  to  have  the  water  of  the  stream,  on  the  banks 
of  which  his  property  lies,  flow  down  as  it  has  been  accustomed  to  flow  down 
to  his  property,  subject  to  the  ordinary  use  of  the  flowing  water  by  upper  pro- 

1  Appeal  cases,  House  of  Lords  and  Judicial  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council,  1893, 
p.  698. 

30 


POLLUTION   OP  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  31 

prietors,  and  to  such  further  use,  if  any,  on  their  part  in  connection  with  their 
property  as  may  be  reasonable  under  the  circumstances.  Every  riparian  pro- 
prietor is  thus  entitled  to  the  water  of  his  stream,  in  its  natural  flow,  without 
sensible  diminution  or  increase  and  without  sensible  alteration  in  its  character 
or  quality.  Any  invasion  of  this  right  causing  actual  damage  or  calculated  to 
found  a  claim  which  may  ripen  into  an  adverse  right  entitles  the  party  injured 
to  the  intervention  of  the  court. 

These  principles  are  applicable  to  public  bodies  as  well  as  pri- 
vate persons.  While  private  rights,  however,  may  be  overridden  by 
the  acquisition  of  a  prescriptive  right,  public  rights  can  not.  Without 
exception  the  riparian  communities  which  pollute  the  waters  of  the 
boundary  rivers  do  so  in  violation  of  the  principles  of  the  common 
law. 
It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  the  circumstances  under  which 

these  principles  were  evolved  have  greatly  changed, 
mo»"u!rBT  °f  C°m"  and  the  Physical  features  of  the  boundary  rivers 

differ  very  much  from  those  of  the  streams  of 
England,  where  the  common  law  originated.  When  settlements  had 
been  made  along  our  boundary  waters  to  an  extent  that  urban  com- 
munities commenced  to  grow,  and  sewerage  systems  in  consequence  of 
this  growth  began  to  be  installed,  such  was  the  immensity  of  these 
rivers  that  settlers  living  farther  down  stream  probably  neither  no- 
ticed nor  protested  against  the  discharge  into  them  of  what  was  rela- 
tively an  infinitesimal  amount  of  pollution.  When  these  communi- 
ties, therefore,  installed  sewerage  works  they  took  advantage  of  the 
diluting  powers  of  the  rivers,  and  resorted  to  the  simple  and  inex- 
pensive expedient  of  discharging  into  them  their  sewage  in  its  raw 
condition.  The  custom  of  doing  so  has  now  become  universal.  The 
selfishness  of  vested  interests,  familiarity  with  evil  conditions,  which 
has  begotten  an  indifference  to  both  the  doing  and  the  suffering  of 
wrong,  an  ill-directed  spirit  of  economy  averse  to  the  assumption  of 
financial  burdens  to  remedy  what  was  only  regarded  as  an  existing  or 
potential  evil  to  other  communities,  and  the  disinclination  to  change 
ingrainted  in  humanity,  have  resulted  in  a  situation  along  the  frontier 
which  is  generally  chaotic,  everywhere  perilous,  and  in  some  cases 
disgraceful.  The  common  law  having  proved  inadequate  to  the  task 
of  controlling  affairs,  it  has  been  supplemented  or  superseded  by 
legislative  enactments,  which  in  their  practical  working  have  about 
as  signally  failed. 
The  great  difficulty  is  that  in  the  United  States  and  in  Canada, 

as  in  all  countries,  in  fact,  modern  development, 
robienf'of  '"injury*"     social  and  economic,  has  introduced  a  number  of 

new  elements  into  the  question  of  sewage  purifica- 
tion which  call  for  the  reconsideration  of  views  and  methods  which 
have  fallen  into  disuse. 


32  FINAL  BEPOET  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  conservation  of  public  health  is  of 

paramount  importance  under  the  treaty.     This  is 

sanitary  consider-    evident  f rom  Article  IV  to  which  reference  has 

tion  first  In  order  of      .  . 

procedure.  been  made.    I  he  significance  of  sanitary  considera- 

tions is  also  evidenced  by  Article  VIII  of  the  treaty, 
which  contains  the  following  provisions : 

The  following  order  of  procedure  shall  be  observed  among  the  various  uses 
enumerated  hereafter  for  these  waters  (meanng  boundary  waters),  and  no  v-se 
shall  be  permitted  which  tends  materially  to  conflict  with  or  restrain  any  other 
use  which  is  given  preference  over  it  in  this  order  of  procedure : 

1.  Uses  for  domestic  and  sanitary  purposes. 

2.  Uses  for  navigation,  including  the  service  of  canals  for  the  purposes  of 
navigation. 

3.  Uses  for  power  and  for  irrigation  purposes. 

Although  this  order  of  procedure  is  in  respect  to  certain  uses 
enumerated  in  this  particular  article,  it  may  be 
question!7  taken  as  indicative  of  the  view  of  the  high  contract- 

ing, parties  regarding  the  importance  of  sanitation. 
Notwithstanding  this,  the  discharge  of  sewage  into  streams  can  not  be 
looked  upon  exclusively  from  the  standpoint  of  its  harmful  effects 
upon  health  and  property.  The  reference  itself  does  not  so  look  upon 
pollution.  One  of  the  questions  in  its  second  branch  is,  "By  what 
means  or  arrangement  can  *  *  *  a  system  or  method  of  render- 
ing these  waters  sanitary  and  suitable  for  domestic  and  other  uses  be 
best  secured  and  maintained  in  order  to  insure  the  adequate  protection 
and  development  of  all  interests  involved  on  both  sides  of  the  boun- 
dary ? "  The  growth  and  development  of  riparian  communities 
would  be  seriously  arrested  if  pollution  were  looked  upon  from  this 
standpoint  exclusively.  While  public  health  is  the  paramount  con- 
sideration, it  must  be  looked  upon,  however,  as  only  one  of  a  large 
number  of  elements  in  the  many-sided  and  complex  question  of  the 
public  weal. 

The  pollution  of  rivers  in  England  has  been  the  subject  of  inves- 
tigation by  royal  commissions  which  have  been  studying  the  question 
very  thoroughly  and  almost  continuously  for  about  50  years.  Their 
investigations  have  covered  nearly  all  the  rivers  of  England  and 
practically  all  the  various  phases  of  the  problem  of  river  contami- 
nation, and  the  voluminous  reports  submitted  by  them  from  time  to 
time  are  very  valuable  and  deserving  of  careful  study.  The  conclu- 
sions and  recommendations  made  in  these  reports,  while  recognizing 
sanitary  considerations  as  first  in  order  of  precedence,  are  based 
upon  the  implied  assumption  that  the  solution  of  the  problem  lies 
in  the  proper  balancing  of  the  various  conflicting  elements  existing 
in  the  individual  cases. 


POLLUTION   OF  BOUNDARY  WATEES.  33 

The  parties  who  appeared  before  the  commission  discussed  the 
question  of  "  injury "  almost  entirely  as  viewed 
injury"  as  be-  frOm  two  standpoints:  First,  from  the  standpoint 
'  of  the  relation  between  the  riparian  communities 
which  pollute  the  waters  of  the  streams  and  those 
communities  which  suffer  in  consequence  of  the  pollution  of  their 
water  supply ;  and,  second,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  agriculturists, 
the  floating  population  of  summer  resorts,  casual  visitors,  picnickers, 
campers,  yachtsmen,  and  crews  and  passengers  of  vessels  frequenting 
boundary  waters. 

The  difficulties  arising  from  viewing  the  situation  from  the  first 
standpoint  will  appeal'  by  considering  the  supposititious  case  of  town 
"A"  and  town  "  B,"  the  first  town  being  situate  above  the  other  on 
the  same  bank  of  a  boundary  stream,  the  former  discharging  raw 
sewage  from  its  sewerage  system  into  the  river,  the  latter  being 
obliged  to  drink  the  water  thus  contaminated  or  to  purify  it  at  its 
own  expense.  To  compel  "A"  to  purify  its  sewage  absolutely  or  com- 
pletely would,  under  present  conditions  and  in  the  present  state  of 
sanitary  engineering  practice,  involve  a  financial  burden  too  great 
for  that  town  to  bear,  a  burden  which  might  retard  its  progress  both 
industrially  and  in  respect  to  population.  On  the  other  hand,  to  per- 
mit "A"  to  relieve  itself  of  any  reasonable  financial  burden  by  throw- 
ing its  raw  sewage  on  the  waterworks  intake  of  "  B  "  and  thus  com- 
pelling that  town  either  to  drink  contaminated  water,  or  to  assume 
an  unreasonable  financial  burden  in  purifying  it,  would  be  an  act  of 
injustice  which  no  fair-minded  community,  with  a  proper  apprecia- 
tion of  the  evil  inflicted,  would  perpetrate  or  continue,  and  one  to 
which  no  community  should  be  asked  to  submit.  If  the  harm  which 
would  be  done  "  B  "  could  be  remedied,  however,  by  the  assumption 
of  a  financial  burden  which  would  be  reasonable  under  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  there  would  not  be  an  "  injury  "  within  the  mean- 
ing of  the  reference  or  the  treaty. 

From  the  second  standpoint,  that  of  the  agriculturist,  the  floating 

population  of  summer  resorts,  etc.,  the  question  of 

* injury "  from  the    « injury  "  under  the  reference  is  a  much  more  diffi- 

standpoint  of  summer  „,,          .  j    •   i        j         j?   .r.      i_  ^ 

residents,  etc.  cult  one.  The  shores  and  islands  of  the  boundary 
rivers  and  lakes  must  particularly  be  considered. 
Their  scenic  attractions,  their  pure  air  and  salubrious  climate,  their 
opportunities  for  bathing,  fishing,  and  yachting,  and  their  ease  of 
access,  affording  facilities  for  rest,  enjoyment,  and  health  restora- 
tion to  unlimited  numbers,  are  invaluable  assets,  factors  in  progress 
and  civilization  which  should  not,  unless  under  the  pressure  of  abso- 
lute necessity,  be  destroyed.  The  harm  done  by  existing  pollution  to 
bathing  resorts  can  not  be  remedied  except  by  preventing  the  dis- 
charge of  sewage  into  the  waters  which  flow  to  them.  Contamination 
of  the  sources  of  the  drinking  supplies  of  these  classes  of  people  is  a 
most  serious  matter.  The  millions  whom  it  affects  or  may  affect  are 
87873—18 3 


34  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

more  exposed  to  danger  than  are  the  urban  inhabitants  who  draw 
their  water  supplies  from  public  water  systems.  Such  systems  have 
been  installed  by  sanitary  engineers  and  generally  afford  a  reason- 
ably pure  drinking  water.  These  classes,  however,  have  no  such  pro- 
tection and  it  is  difficult  to  devise  adequate  means  of  protection  which 
they  could  utilize.  The  fact  that  they  consist  in  a  large  measure  of 
children,  especially  at  the  summer  resorts,  must  also  be  taken  into 
account.  What  would,  therefore,  be  an  "injury  "  to  them  might  not 
be  an  "injury"  to  riparian  communities  with  water-purification 
systems. 

The  commission  regards  the  word  "  injury  "  when  used  in  the  refer- 
ence or  treaty  as  having  a  special  signification— one 

Definition  of  "in-    somewhat  akin  to  the  term  'injuria'  in  iurispru- 

Jury"  as  used  In  the  T  *  * 

reference.  dence.  It  does  not  mean  mere  harm  or  damage,  but 

harm  or  damage  which  is  in  excess  of  the  amount 
of  harm  or  damage  which  the  sufferer,  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances 
of  the  case,  and  of  all  the  coexistent  rights  (if  it  be  permissible  to 
use  the  term  in  this  connection),  and  of  the  paramount  importance 
of  human  health  and  life,  should  reasonably  be  called  upon  to  bear. 

In  the  case  of  the  Detroit  and  Niagara  Rivers  pollution  exists  on 

"injury"  in  De-  one  side  of  the  boundary  line  which  unquestionably 
trofct  and  Niagara  BIT-  is  an  "injury"  within  the  meaning  of  the  treaty 
er8'  to  health  and  property  on  the  other. 

In  the  case  of  the  Rainy  River  and  the  St.  John  River,  pollution 
also  exists  on  one  side  of  the  boundary  line  which 
is  an  "injury"  within  the  meaning  of  the  treaty 
to  health  and  property  on  the  other. 

In  the  case  of  these  four  rivers  the  pollution  is  transboundary  both 
in  its  effect  and  extension. 

In  the  case  of  the  other  boundary  rivers  the  commission  is  unable 
to  say  that  at  the  present  time  pollution  does  exist  on  either  side  of 
the  boundary  line  to  the  injury  of  property  upon  the  other,  although 
it  is  of  the  opinion  that  at  times  it  does.  As  populations  along  their 
banks  grow,  pollution  having  both  transboundary  extension  and  trans- 
boundary  effect  will  doubtless  increase. 

In  the  division  of  this  report  which  treats  of  pollution  having 
transboundary  effects  a  broader  view  of  the  question  of  pollution  is 
taken  than  the  literal  words  of  the  reference  and  treaty  might  be 
thought  to  justify.  In  the  broad  view  there  expressed  pollution 
exists  throughout  the  whole  range  of  boundary  waters,  which  is  an 
"  injury  "  to  health  and  property  in  both  countries,  and  comes  within 
the  spirit  of  the  prohibition  of  Article  IV  of  the  treaty.  It  is  now 
necessary  to  consider  the  limits  of  permissible  pollution,  or  the  extent 
to  which  pollution  which  might  cause  this  "  injury "  should  be 
restricted. 


VI.— LIMITS  OF  PERMISSIBLE  POLLUTION  AND  STANDARDS  OF 
SEWAGE  PURIFICATION. 

Two  distinct  lines  of  policy  with  regard  to  the  disposition  of 
sewage  in  boundary  waters  were  suggested  to  the  commission.  (1) 
To  look  upon  them  as  open  sewers  for  the  reception  of  riparian 
pollution  of  all  kinds,  and  (2)  to  restore  the  purity  of  the  boundary 
waters  as  far  and  as  fast  as  a  comprehensive  and  adequate  appre- 
ciation of  all  interests  involved  will  permit. 

The  first  policy  would  not  only  be  contrary  to  the  treaty  and  the 
principles  of  international  law,  but  the  continued  discharge  of  un- 
treated sewage  into  boundary  waters  by  either  country  would,  in 
the  case  of  the  Niagara  and  Detroit  Rivers  especially,  be  increas- 
ingly injurious  to  its  own  riparian  communities  farther  downstream. 

The  advisory  engineers  in  their  resume,  which  has  already  been 
set  forth  in  full  in  this  report,  say : 

Opinion  of  advisory  . 

engineers.  "A"  as  to  While  realizing  that  in  certain  cases  the  discharge  of 
the  discharge  of  raw  crude  sewage  int0  the  boundary  waters  may  be  without 

sewage     in     boundary  " 

waterg>  danger,  it  is  our  judgment  that  effective  sanitary  adminis- 

tration requires  the  adoption  of  the  general  policy  that 
no  untreated  sewage  from  cities  or  towns  shall  be  discharged  into  the  boundary 
waters.  (Sec.  6.) 

Water  supplies  taken  from  streams  and  lakes  into  which  the  sewage  of  cities 
and  towns  is  directly  discharged  are  safe  for  use  after 

"  B "  as  to  feasibil-       purification,  provided  that  the  load  upon  the  puriflying 
Ity  of  purifying  water 
after  pollution-  mechanism  is  not  too  great  and  that  a  sufficient  factor  of 

safety  is  maintained,  and  further  provided  that  the  plant 
is  properly  operated.     (Sec.  2.) 

In  waterways  where  some  pollution  is  inevitable  and  where  the  ratio  of  the 
volume  of  water  to  the  volume  of  sewage  is  so  large  that 
"C"  as  to  utilizing       no  local  nuisance  can  result,  it  is  our  judgment  that  the 
streams  for  dilution. 

method  of  sewage  disposal  by  dilution  represents  a  natural 

resource  and  that  the  utilization  of  this  resource  is  justifiable  for  economic 
reasons,  provided  that  an  unreasonable  burden  or  responsibility  is  not  placed 
upon  any  water-purification  plant  and  that  no  menace  to  the  public  health  is 
occasioned  thereby.  (Sec.  5.) 

This  "  burden  or  responsibility  "  is  a  very  important  element  to 
be  considered  in  arriving  at  a  standard  of  puri- 
fication  or    the    limits    of    permissible    pollution. 
The    advisory   engineers    were    interrogated    very 
fully  on  this  subject  at  the  New  York  conference  and  were  pressed 
to  define  this  limit  in  as  exact  terms  as  possible.     Their  answer  is 
contained  in  the  fourth  section  of  their  resume : 

While  present  information  does  not  permit  a  definite  limit  of  safe  loading 
of  a  water-purification  plant  to  be  established,  it  is  our  judgment  that  this 

35 


36  FINAL  REPOBT  INTEKNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

limit  is  exceeded  if  the  annual  average  number  of  B.  coli  in  the  water  delivered 
to  the  plant  is  higher  than  about  500  per  100  cubic  centimeters,  or  if  in  0.1 
cubic  centimeter  samples  of  the  water  B.  coli  is  found  50  per  cent  of  the  time. 
With  such  a  limit  the  number  of  B.  coli  would  be  less  than  the  figure  given 
during  a  part  of  the  year  and  would  be  exceeded  during  some  periods. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark  that  the  engineers  are  speaking 
of  bacterial  pollution  only.  In  view  of  the  present 
stage  of  progress  in  sanitary  science,  this  limit  or 
standard  must  be  regarded  as  tentative.  Their 
evidence  shows  that  they  regarded  the  question  as  profoundly 
affected  by  conditions  and  in  no  sense  capable  of  absolute  generaliza- 
tion. The  commission  agrees  with  the  statement  of  principles  set 
forth  in  these  four  sections.  It  therefore  recommends  that  all 
sewage  should,  before  being  discharged  into  boundary  waters,  re- 
ceive some  purification  treatment,  and  the  degree  of  such  treatment 
is  to  be  determined  in  a  large  measure  by  the  limits  of  safe  loading 
of  a  water-purification  plant. 

To  determine  the  extent  of  remedial  treatment  required  in  each 
particular  case  would  involve  consideration  of  the  varied  lines  that 
have  been  followed  by  the  commission  throughout  the  present  in- 
quiry; the  existence  of  pollution  and  of  harm,  actual  or  potential, 
to  domestic  or  other  uses,  to  public  health,  or  property;  the  results 
of  the  engineering  studies  of  feasible  remedies;  and  the  economic 
facts  relating  to  the  conservation  of  stream  resources.  It  would 
require  the  balancing  of  the  value  of  remedial  measures  in  the  terms 
of  public  good  against  the  cost  of  the  requisite  improvements. 

On  the  one  hand,  it  is  evident  that  the  paramount  importance  of 
public  health  and  the  binding  obligations  of  the  treaty  must  be 
borne  in  mind.  These  make  impossible  the  recommendation  of  such 
lenient  remedial  measures  as  would  work  economic  injustice  or 
would  indorse  officially  the  continued  spoliation  of  a  natural  re- 
source to  the  injury  of  the  citizens  upon  both  sides  of  these  waters. 

On  the  other  hand,  sewage-treatment  requirements  must  not  be 
made  so  excessive  and  unreasonable  as  to  involve  the  cities  and  towns 
along  these  waters  in  an  expenditure  entirely  unjustifiable.  They 
should  be  reasonable  and  feasible  from  the  standpoint  of  engineering 
construction,  of  adaptability  to  local  conditions,  of  the  availability 
of  necessary  lands,  of  outfalls  and  incident  structures,  and  of  costs. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  pollution  in  the  Detroit  and  Niagara 
Rivers,  and  its  transboundary  effects  therein,  are  much  greater  than 
in  the  other  boundary  waters,  these  two  rivers  will  be  treated  as  one 
class  and  the  remaining  boundary  waters  as  another  class. 

The  problem  of  necessary  bacterial  purification  of  the  sewage  dis- 
charged into  the  two  former  is  one  of  extreme  perplexity,  owing  to 
the  difficulty  or  impossibility  of  obtaining  definite  and  ample  data 


POLLUTION   OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  37 

and  the  relative  importance  to  be  attached  to  many  of  the  factors 
which  enter  into  it. 

After  a  great  deal  of  consideration  the  commission  has,  in  view  of 
all  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  come  to  the  conclusion  that  for  the 
present,  and  as  an  immediate  step  in  the  way  of  restoration  of  the 
purity  of  these  streams,  the  communities  responsible  for  the  discharge 
of  raw  sewage  into  them  should  purify  it  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
resulting  average  cross-sectional  pollution  in  each  river  will  not  ex- 
ceed the  limit  of  safe  loading  for  a  water-purification  plant. 

In  other  words,  the  standard  of  purification  required  of  these 
communities  should  be  such  that  the  streams  after  receiving  their 
treated  sewage  would  have  a  mean  annual  cross-sectional  average  of 
B.  coli  not  exceeding  500  per  100  c.  c. 

Compliance  with  the  requirements  of  this  standard  would  not  im- 
pose upon  the  riparian  communities  along  these  rivers  discharging 
their  sewage  therein  a  burden  which  would  be  unreasonable  or 
greater  than  that  ordinarily  imposed  upon  urban  communities  which 
purify  their  sewage. 

It  necessarily  follows  that  this  standard  of  sewage  purification, 
being  based  upon  a  tentative  standard  of  safe  load- 
ing  of  water-purification  plants,  must  itself  be 
tentative.  The  growing  appreciation  of  sanitation, 
the  consequent  demand  for  a  higher  degree  of  purity  in  water  sup- 
plies, and  the  constant  improvement  that  is  taking  place  in  the  proc- 
esses of  sewage  treatment  tend  to  make  a  proper  standard  of  sewage 
purification  one  of  ever-increasing  stringency.  The  discovery  of  a 
new  and  much  more  economical,  or  possibly  a  profitable,  method  of 
disposal  of  sewage,  for  example,  would  naturally  lead  to  the  adop- 
tion of  a  stricter  standard  of  permissible  pollution  in  heavily  pol- 
luted streams.  Furthermore,  any  limit  of  permissible  impurity  that 
might  be  established  even  temporarily  for  a  given  stream  must  be 
influenced  largely  by  strictly  local  considerations. 

The  data  necessary  for  the  formulation  of  a  fixed  standard  either 
of  sewage  purification  or  of  water  purification  are  not  sufficiently 
well  established  at  the  present  time.  ByViore  precise  methods  of 
experimental  study  there  will  doubtless  be  obtained  in  the  future 
a  more  ample  and  accurate  command  of  facts,  which  will  admit  of 
the  determination  of  a  more  definite  standard. 

In   view   of  the  difficulties   and   uncertainties  of  bacteriological 

technique,  it  is  distinctly  advantageous  to  have,  if 

Bettor  worUns  mie    possible,  a  working  rule  which  is  more  accurate 

required    than    bacte-  TIT  -111  11  • 

rial  standard.  and  readily  determinable  than  the  bacterial  stand- 

ard suggested.  Prof.  Phelps,  the  consulting  engi- 
neer, taking  the  results  of  the  extensive  investigations  reported 
upon  in  the  Progress  Report  as  an  index  of  the  conditions  actually 


38  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

existing,  worked  out,  as  will  appear  from  his  calculations  on  page 
9  of  his  report  to  the  commission,  such  a  rule  or  standard. 

He  found  that  if  the  sewage  of  the  cities  be  diluted  in  a  stream  flow 
of  4  cubic  feet  per  second,  per  capita  of  the  population,  the  resulting 
water  will  contain  approximately  500  B.  coli  per  100  c.  c.  If  the 
dilution  is  proportionately  less  than  this,  a  corresponding  degree  of 
purification  of  the  sewage  will  be  necessary  to  maintain  this  final 
stream  condition.  Further  investigations  will  no  doubt  make  pos- 
sible a  more  accurate  statement  of  these  relations,  but,  as  the  entire 
matter  of  standards  is  always  subject  to  revision  in  the  light  of  ac- 
cumulated knowledge,  it  is  considered  that  for  all  purposes  of  a  pres- 
ent inquiry  the  practical  equivalence  of  the  dilution  and  the  bac- 
teriological standards  may  be  accepted. 

These  standards  are  not  applicable  to  rivers  other  than  the  Niagara 
and  Detroit,  but  it  is  in  no  sense  to  be  inferred,  how- 

The  case  of  bound- 

ary  riTers  standard  of  ever,  that  remedial  or  protective  measures  are  not 
sewage  purification  in  required  in  their  case  where  the  effect  of  pollution 
based  upon  the  entire  cross  section  of  the  streams 
exceeds  in  every  instance  4  feet  per  second  per  capita  of  the  popu- 
lation. 

As  has  been  stated,  the  view  of  the  advisory  engineers  is  adopted 
that  no  untreated  sewage  should  be  discharged  into  boundary  waters, 
but  the  commission  considers  it  inadvisable  at  the  present  time  to 
prescribe  what  the  amount  of  treatment  should  be  in  the  case  of  these 
remaining  rivers.  The  sewage  from  each  community  along  their 
banks  must  be  considered  by  itself  in  respect  of  the  degree  of  purifica- 
tion that  is  necessary,  basing  the  standard  on  the  reasonable  use  of 
the  waters,  the  practical  possibilities  of  remedial  and  protective  meas- 
ures, the  economic  value  of  stream  purification,  and  also  the  economic 
value  of  stream  pollution,  proper  regard  being  had  to  the  public 
health. 

After  giving  much  attention  to  the  question  of  standards  of  puri- 
fication in  these  six  boundary  rivers  the  commission  has  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  fixing  of  standards  for  them,  and  the  subsequent 
modifications  of  those  standards  from  time  to  time,  should  be  left  as 
hereinafter  recommended  to  some  authority  clothed  with  the  neces- 
sary power  to  deal  with  the  question.  This  authority  should  also 
have  power  to  vary,  from  time  to  time  as  conditions  demand,  the 
standards  of  sewage  purification  in  the  Detroit  and  Niagara  Rivers. 


VII.— REMEDIAL  TREATMENT  REQUIRED. 

The  second  branch  of  the  reference  is  concerned  with  remedying 
and  preventing  pollution  in  boundary  waters. 

In  what  way  or  manner,  whether  by  the  construction  and  operation  of  suitable 

drainage  canals  or  plants  at  convenient  points  or  other- 
Second     branch     of 
reference  wise,  is  it  possible  and  advisable  to  remedy  or  prevent  the 

pollution  of  these  waters,  and  by  what  means  or  ar- 
rangement can  the  proper  construction  or  operation  of  remedial  or  pre- 
ventive works,  or  a  system  or  method  of  rendering  these  waters  sanitary  and 
suitable  for  domestic  and  other  uses,  be  best  secured  and  maintained  in  order  to 
insure  the  adequate  protection  and  development  of  all  interests  involved  on 
both  sides  of  the  boundary,  and  to  fulfill  the  obligations  undertaken  in  Article 
IV  of  the  waterways  treaty  of  January  11,  1909,  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  in  which  it  is  agreed  that  the  waters  therein  defined  as  boundary 
waters  and  waters  flowing  across  the  boundary  shall  not  be  polluted  on  either 
side  to  the  injury  of  health  or  property  on  the  other? 

The  question  of  securing  treatment  of  the  sewage  discharged  into 
boundary  waters  is  one  in  respect  of  which,  for- 
°f  m™M  tunately,  the  communities  responsible  for  the  pollu- 
tion are  inclined  to  take  a  reasonable  view.  At  sev- 
eral meetings  held  by  the  commission  the  representatives  of  the 
various  communities  interested  generally  recognized  the  intolerable 
condition  of  boundary  waters  from  a  sanitary  standpoint,  and 
expressed  their  assent  to  any  reasonable  remedial  measures  the 
commission  might  suggest.  Some  objections  were  made  to  any  dis- 
turbance of  the  existing  order  of  things,  but  the  commission  was 
pleased  with  the  sympathetic  reception  generally  met  with  in  dealing 
with  this  problem. 

In  this  connection  the  following  extract  is  given  from  the  report 
made  by  Mr.  Clarence  W.  Hubbell,  consulting  sanitary  engineer  of 
the  city  of  Detroit,  in  November,  1916.  It  is  at  one  and  the  same  time 
the  expression  of  the  opinion  of  a  well-known  sanitary  engineer  and 
an  evidence  of  the  commendable  attitude  taken  by  him  and  the  city  of 
Detroit  with  respect  to  sewage  purification. 

In  regard  to  the  second  part  of  the  problem,  as  to  what  expense  would  be 
justified  for  sewage  treatment,  it  is  difficult  to  formulate  an  answer  in  terms 
of  money  alone.  However,  it  is  believed  that,  aside  from  the  international 
features  of  the  problem,  the  combined  benefits  which  would  accrue  from  a 
more  cleanly  water  front,  purer  water  at  the  bathing  beaches  and  summer 
playgrounds,  reduction  in  typhoid  and  other  water-borne  diseases,  due  to  the 
use  of  sewage-laden  water  along  the  river  front;  betterment  of  raw-water  sup- 
plies for  the  municipalities  below  the  city,  and  the  protection  of  Detroit's 

39 


40  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

water  from  gross  sewage  pollution  at  times  when  the  Detroit  River  flows  back- 
ward, amply  justify  the  expenditure  required  for  sewage-treatment  works  as 
above  outlined.  In  round  figures,  the  cost  would  be  about  $6,000,000,  and  in  my 
judgment  the  expenditure  of  this  sum  would  be  justifiable. 

The  duty  devolving  upon  the  commission  in  answering  the  first 
question  contained  in  this  branch  of  the  reference  is  not  to  lay  down 
any  particular  scheme  of  remedial  works  which  the  communities 
interested  should  adopt,  but  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  there  is  any 
means  by  which  the  pollution  of  boundary  Avaters  can  be  prevented 
or  remedied  which  is  at  once  practicable  and  within  their  financial 
ability.  Subject  to  the  requirement  that  the  remedial  works  should 
be  ample  to  accomplish  the  desired  results,  the  adoption  of  the  par- 
ticular type  of  works  to  be  installed  should  be  left  to  the  communi- 
ties themselves,  which  may  be  able  to  select  more  efficient  and  less 
expensive  methods  than  those  which  the  commission  has  found  suffi- 
cient to  work  out  the  desirable  standards  of  sewage  purification. 

The  art  of  sewage  treatment  has  developed  along  divers  lines,  and 
there  are  available  at  the  present  time  various  types 

various    types    of    of  treatment  adaptable  to  the  needs  of  varying 

sewage    nuisance    and  .   .  mi  .  jjuj.- 

treatment.  conditions.  Ihe  most  important  type  of  pollution 

is  the  bacterial  contamination  of  drinking-water 
supplies.  Sewage-polluted  drinking  water  constitutes  an  actual  or 
potential  menace  to  health,  so  much  so  that  the  presence  of  the  bacte- 
rial organisms  of  water-borne  diseases  in  the  sewage  of  an  urban  com- 
munity should  always  be  assumed.  While  bacterial  pollution  is  most 
serious  in  the  case  of  waters  used  as  sources  of  drinking-water  sup- 
ply, it  is  also  serious  in  the  case  of  waters  used  for  bathing,  boating, 
and  other  pleasurable  exercises,  and  also,  although  to  a  less  degree, 
in  the  case  of  shore  waters  on  account  of  possible  indirect  infection 
through  cattle  and  insects. 

Certain  types  of  sewage  treatment  processes,  such  as  sand  filters, 
having  as  their  chief  function  oxidation  of  sewage,  are  incidentally 
more  or  less  efficient  as  a 'means  of  disinfection;  but  sewage  disin- 
fection as  a  primary  requirement  is  most  economically  and  efficiently 
carried  out  by  chemical  means.  Among  the  various  chemical  agent* 
that  have  been  proposed  from  time  to  time  and  extensively  used 
for  this  purpose,  calcium  hyperchlorite  or  bleaching  powder  has 
proved  most  satisfactory. 

A  second  type  of  pollution  or  nuisance  arising  from  the  discharge 
of  sewage  into  boundary  waters  is  physical  and  re- 

physicai  pollution,  lates  primarily  to  the  condition  of  streams,  as 
floating  matter,  turbidity,  deposits  upon  the  bot- 
tom or  banks,  and  unsightly  appearances.  Sewage  screening  by 
means  of  so-called  coarse  screens  will  remove  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  larger  and  more  undesirable  floating  matter  and  improve  the 


POLLUTION   OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  41 

appearance  of  streams.  Efficient  sedimentation  will  remove  a  sub- 
stantial part  of  suspended  matter  generally  and  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  suspended  matter  which  is  capable  of  settling  and  producing  bot- 
tom deposits  of  an  offensive  character.  Fine  screening  is  intermedi- 
ate in  effectiveness  between  coarse  screening  and  sedimentation.  The 
requirements  of  each  particular  situation  and  the  relative  cost  of  the 
installation  and  operation  of  these  three  systems  must  determine  in 
each  case  the  type  of  treatment  to  be  adopted.  There  is  a  third  type 
of  nuisance,  chemical  in  its  nature,  which  arises  from  changes  in  the 
chemical  characteristics  of  streams — reduction  in  the  normal  degree 
of  aeration,  development  of  offensive  odors,  and  discoloration  and 
banishment  or  destruction  of  fish  life.  It  is  due  to  the  oxidizable 
character  of  the  polluted  waters.  Partial  improvement  results  from 
screening  or  sedimentation  by  the  removal  of  a  portion  of  the 
oxidizable  matter.  Biochemical  oxidation  of  sewage,  which  is  the 
most  effective  treatment,  is  brought  about  by  passing  it  through 
natural  or  specially  prepared  beds  of  sand  or  over  the  surface  of 
stones  or  other  coarse  material  or  by  passing  it  through  tanks,  with 
artificial  aeration  in  contact  with  sludge  properly  cultivated  (acti- 
vated sludge) ,  for  the  development  of  oxidizing  organisms. 

With  the  extension  of  stream  pollution  by  increasing  population 
these  three  kinds  of  nuisance  appear  in  the  chronological  order  in 
which  reference  has  been  made  to  them.  A  minor  physically  unde- 
tectable  pollution  may  seriously  injure  a  stream  bacterially,  and  a 
stream  may  be  physically  affected  by  floating  debris  and  deposits, 
and  yet,  from  a  chemical  standpoint,  be  normal  or  practically  so. 
The  final  result  of  continuously  increasing  pollution  is  the  chemical 
breakdown  of  a  stream,  resulting  in  the  most  objectionable  conditions, 
examples  of  which  are  becoming  increasingly  common  in  the  more 
densely  settled  sections  of  both  countries.  In  purely  local  situations 
in  the  Niagara,  Detroit,  and  St.  Clair  Rivers,  for  instance,  notably  in 
the  vicinity  of  sewer  outlets  and  the  mouths  of  tributary  streams, 
and  in  the  inner  harbor  at  Buffalo,  the  waters  are  polluted  to  the 
extent  of  definite  chemical  nuisance.  At  these  points  the  difficulty  is 
due  to  incomplete  dispersion  of  the  sewage  permitting  the  overload- 
ing of  the  immediate  waters.  The  rivers  as  a  whole,  however,  are 
far  removed  from  this  condition. 

It  is  advisable  to  consider  the  Niagara  and  Detroit  Rivers  as  a  class 
by  themselves  so  far  as  remedial  and  preventive  systems  are  con- 
cerned. As  has  been  stated,  the  most  serious  condition  existing  is 
the  bacterial  pollution  of  these  streams.  To  remedy  this  evil,  sewage 
treatment  should  be  applied  in  connection  with  dilution  so  far  as  is 
necessary  to  bring  their  waters  to  the  standard  mentioned — a  mean 
annual  cross-sectional  average  of  B.  coli  not  exceeding  500  per  100 
c.  c.  This  necessary  sewage  purification  can  be  effected  by  fine  screen- 


42 


FINAL  BEPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 


ing  or  sedimentation,  and  when  necessary  by  chemical  disinfection, 
at  a  cost  which  will  impose  no  unreasonable  burden  upon  the  urban 
community  responsible  for  the  present  pollution. 

The  consulting  engineer,  Prof.  Phelps,  investigated  the  question 

of  installing  adequate  remedial  works  at  Detroit 

cost    of    remedial    an(j  Buffalo.     The  results  of  his  investigation  are 

works   at  Buffalo  and  .       .  .  . 

Detroit.  given  in  his  report  to  the  commission,  to  which 

those  desirous  of  looking  into  this  question  at 
length  are  referred.1  A  summary  of  his  conclusions,  however,  is 
given  in  the  following  table : 


First  co  st. 

Annual  charges. 

Intercept- 
ors. 

Other 
structures. 

Land. 

Total. 

Fixed. 

Operat- 
ing 

Total. 

Per 

capita. 

Detroit  

$2,560,000 
1,560,000 

$2,690,000 
1,770,000 

$680,000 
270,000 

$5,930,000 
3,  600,  000 

$295,000 
203,000 

$216,000 
187,  000 

$511,000 
390,000 

$0.54 
.65 

Buffalo      -    ... 

The  estimated  first  cost  of  necessary  remedial  works  for  Detroit  is 
about  $6,000,000,  and  for  Buffalo  something  less  than  $4,000,000. 
In  each  case  about  one-half  of  the  total  costs  is  for  treatment  works 
proper,  the  remainder  being  the  amount  chargeable  to  the  collection 
of  sewage.  The  annual  charges  include  interest,  maintenance,  and 
operating  expenses,  and  amount  on  a  per  capita  basis  to  54  and  65 
cents,  respectively. 

The  United  States  Census  Bureau  furnishes  data  2  respecting  the 
combined  yearly  charges  per  capita  for  water  and  sewerage  works 
in  American  cities.  Tabulated,  these  data  are  as  follows : 

Cities  over  500,000  population $3.48 

Cities  from  300,000  to  500,000 4.  01 

Cities  from  100,000  to  300,000 3.92 

Cities  from  50,000  to  100,000 3.71 

Cities  from  20,000  to  30,000 3.  65 

Average  of  all  cities  over  30,000  population 3.  94 

These  estimated  yearly  costs  per  capita  for  required  sewage  treat- 
ment determined  by  Prof.  Phelps  do  not  appear  to  the  commission 
to  be  unreasonable,  either  in  view  of  the  combined  water  and  sew- 
erage costs  in  the  United  States  cities  or  in  view  of  the  financial  stand- 
ing of  the  communities  interested. 

The  sewage  pollution  of  the  Rainy,  St.  Marys,  St.  Clair,  St.  Law- 
rence, St.  John,  and  St.  Croix  Rivers  differs  from 

other  riTers.  that  of  the  Detroit  and  Niagara  Rivers  in  degree, 

but  not  in  kind.  The  less  concentrated  population* 
on  these  six  rivers  have  not  yet  brought  about  the  regrettable  condi 


1  Report  of  the  Consulting  Sanitary  Engineer  Upon  Remedial  Measures,  Mar.  6,  1916. 
»  U.  S.  Census  Bureau.     Financial  Statistics  of  Cities,  1912.     Washington,  1913. 


POLLUTION   OF   BOUNDARY  WATERS.  43 

tions  existent  in  the  other  two.  A  fortunate  opportunity,  therefore,  is 
afforded  them  to  avoid  the  dilemma  of  the  more  dense  populations 
along  the  Detroit  and  Niagara  Rivers  and  to  profit  by  recent  advances 
in  sanitary  science  and  provide  at  an  earlier  stage  in  their  develop- 
ment facilities  and  arrangements  for  sewage  purification,  the  absence 
of  which  makes  stream  protection  in  the  Niagara  and  Detroit  Rivers 
a  matter  of  such  serious  expense  and  difficulty.  Despite  the  fact  that 
the  effects  of  pollution  in  these  six  streams  are  largely  local  and  con- 
fined in  the  main  to  shore  conditions,  the  commission  has  no  doubt 
as  to  the  advisability  of  their  adopting  remedial  measures  in  the  im- 
mediate future.  The  extent  of  treatment  required  is  controlled  by 
local  rather  than  by  general  conditions.  By  this  statement  it  is 
meant  that  while  conditions  exist  in  many  instances  which  are  in 
substantial  contravention  of  treaty  obligations,  their  immediate  local 
effect  is  much  more  serious  than  their  effect  upon  the  stream  as  a 
whole.  Remedies  sufficient  to  meet  the  local  conditions  would  be 
ample  to  meet  the  international  situation. 

In  the  case  of  these  streams  any  remedial  works  installed  in  com- 
pliance with  existing  legislation,  and  the  regulations  of  the  States 
and  Provinces  directly  affected,  should  have  in  view  the  safeguard- 
ing of  international  interests,  present  and  future.  These  interests 
require  as  a  minimum  measure  the  planning  of  a  sewer  system  with 
provisions  for  the  collection  of  sewerage  at  one  or  more  points  suit- 
able for  treatment,  the  installation  of  tanks  or  other  devices  suffi- 
cient for  the  removal  of  the  larger  portion  of  the  suspended  solids 
capable  of  settling,  and  ample  equipment  for  the  chemical  disinfec- 
tion of  all  sewage  at  such  times  as  may  be  found  necessary,  the  time 
for  taking  these  remedial  measures  to  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
authority  hereinafter  recommended. 

The  consulting  engineer  also  investigated  the  question  of  the  cost 
of  adequate  remedial  works  at  the  following  towns  in  the  Province 
of  Ontario:  Windsor,  Sarnia,  Amherstburg,  Fort  Erie,  Niagara 
Falls,  Bridgeburg,  Chippewa,  and  Queenston;  at  the  following 
towns  in  the  State  of  Michigan :  Port  Huron,  St.  Clair,  Marine  City, 
Algonac,  River  Rouge,  Ecorse,  Ford  City,  Wyandotte,  and  Trenton ; 
and  at  the  following  towns  in  the  State  of  New  York:  Tonawanda, 
North  Tonawanda,  Lasalle,  Niagara  Falls,  Lackawanna,  Kenmore, 
Lewiston,  and  Youngstown. 

In  the  case  of  these  cities  and  towns  the  estimated  annual  charges 
in  connection  with  these  works,  including  interest,  maintenance,  and 
operating  expenses,  range  from  44  cents  to  $2.49  per  capita,  averag- 
ing 77  cents  per  capita  of  their  population.  These  estimates,  as  well 
as  the  estimates  in  the  case  of  Detroit  and  Buffalo,  are  based  on  ordi- 
nary prices  and  not  on  the  exceptional  prices  which,  owing  to  the 
war,  are  ruling  at  the  present  time.  These  charges  also  appear  to 


FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

the  commission  to  be  reasonable,  both  in  view  of  the  financial  stand- 
ing of  the  towns  and  cities  and  in  view  of  similar  charges  in  the  case 
of  other  towns  and  cities  in  the  two  countries. 
Although  the  commission  felt  itself  more  concerned  with  results 
than  methods,  it  devoted  considerable  time  and  at- 

Inquiries  into  meth-  ,  •  j.i        •  L'       ±'  <•   • 

ods  of  sewage  disposal,    tention  to  the  investigation  of  improved  processes 
of  sewage  treatment  and  disposal.     The  science  of 
sanitation,  as  has  been  remarked,  is  a  progressive  one,  and  its  ad- 
vance is  marked  by  important  developments  from  year  to  year. 

Mr.  T.  Chalkley  Hatton,  sanitary  engineer  for  the  city  of  Mil- 
waukee, gave  evidence  before  the  commission  on  this  subject.1  One 
of  his  statements  illustrates  the  active  spirit  of  research  along  this 
line  which  to-day  characterizes  the  world  of  sanitary  science.  He 
says: 

Before  deciding  upon  the  methods  of  sewage  disposal  for  Milwaukee  we  built 
rather  an  elaborate  experimental  station,  in  which  we  tried  to  put  all  those 
modern  methods  of  sewage  disposal  now  prevalent  in  this  country  and  abroad, 
and  I  think  we  had  23  different  processes  going  on  there  at  one  time — one  of 
the  largest  experimental  stations  carried  on  in  this  country  for  sewage-disposal 
purposes.  , 

A  controlling  factor  in  the  disposal  of  sewage  is  the  cost  of  dealing 
with  the  sludge.  Great  care  must  be  taken  in  disposing  of  the  set- 
tleable  solids  of  sewage  in  order  to  prevent  local  nuisances,  and  under 
certain  conditions  very  large  expenditures  must  be  made  to  prevent 
the  substitution  of  nuisances  on  land  for  nuisances  in  the  water  of  the 
diluting  streams.  What  sanitary  engineers  generally  are  seeking  for 
is  some  effective  process  by  which  the  disposal  of  the  sludge  can  be 
made  a  commercial  success. 

The  activated  sludge  process,  which  has  apparently  been  finally 
adopted  by  Milwaukee,  is  one  of  the  most  promising  of  modern 
methods  and  is  meeting  with  the  approval  of  a  large  number  of 
sanitary  engineers. 

A  sludge-treatment  process  operated  in  England  was  discussed  be- 
fore the  commission  by  Mr.  Edward  A.  Paterson,  chemical  engineer 
of  London.2  The  object  of  this  process  is  to  dry  prepared  sewage 
sludge  so  that  it  can  be  used  as  a  fertilizer  and  extract  as  by-products 
during  destructive  distillation,  ammonia,  oils,  gas,  fat,  phenol,  and 
other  materials  suitable  for  drugs  and  dyes.  Mr.  Paterson  claims 
that  the  sludge  can  be  and -is  being  treated  by  this  process  in  Eng- 
land at  a  fair  profit.  Other  processes  were  looked  into.  Of  all  of 
them  it  may  be  said  that  they  are  still  in  their  experimental  stage, 
and  while  their  results  so  far  have  under  certain  circumstances  been 
very  encouraging,  they  have  not  been  fully  tested  by  time  and  condi- 

1  Hearings  of  the  International  Joint  Commission  in  re  remedies  for  the  pollution  of 
boundary  waters  between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  1916,  p.  99. 
Mbid.,  p.  35. 


POLLUTION   OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  45 

tions.  A  full  discussion  by  the  commission  of  these  various  proc- 
esses in  their  present  stage  of  development  would  not  serve  any 
useful  end,  and  its  opinions  would  not  be  taken,  and  could  not  be 
expected  to  be  taken,  as  conclusive  as  to  their  respective  merits. 

So  far  remedial  methods  have  only  been  dealt  with  in  connection 
with  urban  communities.  Sewage  from  vessels,  water  ballast  dis- 
charged from  vessels,  garbage,  industrial  and  manufacturing  wastes 
call  for  consideration  with  regard  to  remedial  methods. 

The  discharge  of  sewage  from  vessels  has  been  shown  to  constitute 
a  series  menace  to  public  health  in  both  countries, 

Vessel  sewage.  A  . 

not  only  through  the  possible  contamination  of 
water  supplies  near  their  intakes,  but  also  by  reason  of  its  effect  upon 
the  water  supplies  of  other  vessels  traversing  the  same  areas.  Experi- 
ments undertaken  by  the  United  States  Public  Health  Service  have 
shown  that  by  the  use  of  steam  this  sewage  can  be  easily  disinfected 
before  discharge.  A  practical  test  of  an  automatic  apparatus  de- 
signed for  this  purpose  carried  out  through  two  complete  seasons  upon 
the  D.  C.  Kerr,  a  lake  steamship,  met  with  entire  success  both  as  to 
mechanical  operation  and  bacteriological  efficiency.  The  installation 
of  this  apparatus  would  be  quite  inexpensive  and  all  steamships  on 
boundary  waters  should  be  compelled  to  sterilize  their  sewage.  Since 
the  navigation  of  these  waters  is  almost  entirely  by  steamship,  the 
evil  now  caused  by  this  sewage  would  be  practically  remedied.  In 
the  case  of  other  vessels  some  system  of  purification  can  doubtless 
be  found  which  is  cheap  and  practical. 
Pollution  by  water  ballast  constitutes  a  more  difficult  problem. 

There  has  not  yet  come  to  the  notice  of  the  com- 
vesgei  ballast,  mission  any  feasible  means  of  purifying  the  rather 

large  quantities  of  water  which  vessels  while  in 
the  polluted  areas  of  inner  harbors  frequently  take  on  board  for 
purposes  of  ballast,  and  which  they  afterwards  discharge  upon  ap- 
proaching their  ports  of  destination,  often  while  passing  water 
intakes.  It  will  probably  be  sufficient  for  the  present  at  least  to 
control  this  practice  by  suitable  regulations,  designed  to  limit  or 
prevent  the  discharge  of  water  ballast  in  the  neighborhood  of  intakes. 
In  the  event  of  the  failure  of  such  control  by  regulations,  more  ex- 
pensive and  time-consuming  methods  of  treatment  will  have  to  be 
developed  and  prescribed. 
The  floatable  character  of  garbage  generally  renders  it  liable  to 

be  carried  by  winds  to  the  shores  of  the  rivers  and 
Garbage.  lakes,  where,  within  a  limited  radius,  it  becomes 

particularly  offensive.  In  the  case  of  one  Ameri- 
can city  of  considerable  size  a  substantial  part  of  its  garbage  was 
being  disposed  of  by  dumping  it  into  the  main  outfall  sewer  near  its 
mouth.  Such  a  practice  is  highly  censurable  and  out  of  keeping 


46  FINAL  BEPOET  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

with  the  usual  practice  of  American  cities.  The  remedy  for  pollu- 
tion from  this  source  is  to  prohibit  the  discharge  of  all  garbage  into 
boundary  waters. 

Pollution  from  industrial  wastes  has  received  a  great  deal  of  at- 
tention, and  expensive  works  for  its  purification 
industrial  wastes.  have  been  installed  both  in  this  continent  and  in 
Europe.  In  some  of  these  works  valuable  by- 
products have  been  recovered,  and  the  cost  of  treatment  thus  re- 
duced. The  immensity  of  the  boundary  waters,  and  their  consequent 
capacity  for  dilution,  will  probably  for  some  time  to  come  prevent 
pollution  from  this  source  other  than  sawmill  and  pulp  mill  wastes 
becoming  an  international  question.  Having  regard  to  the  future, 
however,  it  is  well  to  provide  for  its  regulation.  Specifically  the 
dumping  of  large  quantities  of  sawdust  and  other  sawmill  waste, 
and  the  discharge  of  wastes  from  pulp  mills,  have  been  brought  to 
the  attention  of  the  commission.  Sawmill  waste  has  in  many  States 
and  Provinces  been  prohibited  by  laws,  more  honored  in  their  breach 
than  in  their  observance.  It  is  possible  that  there  will  come  a  time, 
and  not  in  the  very  distant  future,  when  all  sawmill  wastes  will 
become  valuable  and  be  utilized  in  manufacturing ;  but  in  the  mean- 
time these  wastes  should  be  burned,  or  otherwise  prevented  from 
being  discharged  into  boundary  waters.  At  present  the  St.  John 
Lumber  Co.'s  sawmill  on  the  St.  John  River  at  Van  Buren,  Me.,  dis- 
poses of  all  its  sawmill  waste  in  connection  with  the  pulp  mill  in 
its  vicinity,  and  none  of  it  is  permitted  to  enter  the  St.  John  River. 
Other  cases,  including  wastes  from  manufacturing  and  chemical 
industries,  may  demand  further  investigation  of  a  somewhat  de- 
tailed character  before  it  will  be  possible  to  determine  the  extent  of 
the  resulting  injury  and  the  feasibility  of  remedial  measures.  The 
nature  of  the  treatment  of  this  waste  and  the  degree  of  its  purifica- 
tion necessary  will  have  to  be  determined  upon  the  facts  and  circum- 
stances of  individual  cases  as  they  arise.  The  dealing  with  this  class 
of  pollution  should  be  left  to  the  authority  hereinafter  recommended. 
The  reference  specifically  calls  for  consideration  by  the  com- 
mission of  drainage  canals  as  a  possible  way  or 
Drainage  canals.  means  of  remedying  or  preventing  the  trans- 
boundary  effect  of  pollution.  The  only  suggestion 
that  has  been  made  before  the  commission  of  a  drainage  canal  project 
is  of  that  promoted  by  the  Erie  &  Ontario  Sanitary  Canal  Com- 
pany. This  company  was  organized  primarily  for  power  purposes, 
but  among  the  objects  in  its  application  for  incorporation  is  remedy- 
ing the  pollution  of  the  Niagara  River  by  the  construction  of  a  canal 
starting  at  or  near  the  mouth  of  Smokes  Creek  in  the  city  of  Lacka- 
wanna  and  thence  running  through  a  well-settled  country  to  Lake 
Ontario.  It  is  proposed  that  the  canal  should  be  used  free  of  charge 


POLLUTION   OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS.  47 

by  the  cities  of  Lackawanna,  Buffalo,  Tonawanda,  North  Tona- 
wanda,  Niagara  Falls  (United  States) ,  and  Lockport,  and  by  all  other 
municipalities  and  communities  on  the  United  States  side  of  the 
Niagara  Eiver  to  carry  off  their  sewage  and  storm  flows,  which  are 
now  discharged  into  Lake  Erie  and  the  Niagara  River,  provided  each 
city  or  town  make  its  own  connection  with  the  canal  without  expense 
to  the  company.  The  company  applied  to  the  Secretary  of 
War  for  the  United  States  by  application  dated  April  23,  1912,  for 
permission  to  divert  for  its  purposes  6,000  second- feet  of  water  from 
Lake  Erie  and  the  Niagara  River.  The  necessary  authority  for 
the  diversion  of  this  water  was  denied  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  but  the  company  desired  to  secure  from  the  commis- 
sion an  approval  of  the  canal  as  a  feasible  solution  of  the  pollution 
problem  in  the  Niagara  River.  Opportunities  were  afforded  the 
company  to  appear  before  the  commission  on  several  occasions.  The 
company's  president,  Mr.  Millard  F.  Bowen,  its  counsel,  Mr.  George 
Clinton,  and  others  on  its  behalf  made  at  the  different  sittings  able 
and  lengthy  arguments,  and  briefs  were  submitted  to  the  commis- 
sion containing  statements  of  fact  and  arguments  from  Messrs. 
Randolph,  Clinton,  Bowen,  and  Shiras  in  support  of  the  scheme. 
Quite  a  large  amount  of  evidence  was  taken,  as  will  appear  on  ref- 
erence to  the  records  of  the  commission.1  The  financial  and  sanitary 
features  of  the  project  did  not,  however,  appear  to  have  been  suffi- 
ciently investigated.  The  plans  and  data  submitted  were  conse- 
quently referred  to  the  consulting  engineer  for  further  investiga- 
tion and  report.  His  report  was  decidedly  adverse  to  the  under- 
taking for  two  principal  reasons:  (1)  It  proposes  to  receive  sewage 
in  its  raw  condition  into  the  canal,  thus  creating  a  large  open  sewer. 
A  condition  of  serious  menace  would  therefore  obtain  throughout 
its  length ;  and  if  the  sewage  were  allowed  to  pass  into  Lake  Ontario, 
conditions  there  would  be  at  least  no  less  objectionable  than  they 
are  at  present.  (2)  The  treatment  required  to  prevent  nuisance 
in  such  a  canal  would  necessarily  be  more  complete  and  correspond- 
ingly more  expensive  than  treatment  required  for  the  protection  of 
the  Niagara  River — a  result  due  to  the  comparatively  small  volume 
of  diluting  water  available  in  the  canal  and  the  consequent  neces- 
sity for  thorough  treatment  of  the  sewage  by  expensive  oxidizing 
methods.  These  reasons  would  apply  with  much  greater  force  in 
the  future.  Buffalo  and  the  towns  below  are  rapidly  growing. 
Should  their  combined  population  reach  a  total  of  1,000,000,  the 
diluting  power  of  the  diverted  water  would  be  so  inadequate  that 

1  Preliminary  report  of  committee  having  general  supervision  of  the  investigation  relat- 
ing to  the  pollution  of  boundary  waters,  with  documents  *  *  *  relating  to  the  peti- 
tions of  the  Erie  &  Ontario  Sanitary  Canal  Co.  for  permission  to  divert  6,000  second- 
feet  from  Lake  Erie,  1913. 


48  FINAL  KEPOET  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

during  the  summer  months  the  waters  of  the  canal  would  be  devoid 
of  oxygen,  dark  in  color,  and  foul  smelling.  One  nuisance  would 
be  abated  by  the  creation  of  a  much  greater  nuisance,  which  could 
only  be  corrected  by  the  most  intense  sewage  purification.  The 
commission,  after  full  consideration  of  all  the  features  of  the  project, 
is  of  the  opinion  that  besides  being  objectionable  on  other  grounds 
it  is  inadvisable  as  a  sanitary  measure. 

On  the  general  question  of  drainage  canals  as  a  method  of  sewage 
disposal  the  commission  is  unable  to  express  any  opinion,  as  each 
case  must  be  decided  upon  its  merits.  Consideration  of  any  scheme 
involves  a  study  of  the  amount  of  water  available  for  diversion,  the 
water-carrying  capacity  of  the  canal,  the  amount  of  raw  sewage  to 
be  discharged  into  it,  the  character  and  cost  of  treatment  of  the 
sewage  to  be  carried,  and  the  consequent  interference  with  the  many 
other  interests  which  may  be  affected,  all  of  which  elements  vary 
according  to  local  circumstances  and  conditions. 

In  the  discussion  of  sewage  standards  and  purification  and  other 

matters  in  this  report  it  was  recommended  that 

poS«onal  SSI"  be'    they  be  dealt  with  by  some  authority  which  should 

considered    and   con-    be  clothed  with  the  necessary  power.    In  view  of 

8ti0tnSanth0rltyC011"  what  has  been  said  under  the  heading  of  "Trans- 
boundary  effect  of  pollution,"  the  commission  is  of 
the  opinion  that  to  the  extent  that  is  consistent  with  a  proper  degree 
of  autonomy  by  the  urban  communities  interested,  all  boundary 
waters,  so  far  as  pollution  is  concerned,  should  be  subject  to  the 
regulations  prescribed  by  this  authority.  If,  during  the  investiga- 
tion, one  thing  impressed  itself  more  than  another  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  the  commission,  it  was  the  view  that  while  pollution  which 
has  a  transboundary  effect  must  in  consequence  of  the  obligation 
resting  on  both  countries  under  the  treaty  be  distinguished  from 
pollution  which  has  not  such  an  effect,  the  distinction  is,  from  a  prac- 
tical standpoint,  highly  technical  and  artificial.  The  question  of 
pollution,  if  a  narrow  construction  be  placed  upon  the  treaty  and 
reference,  is  but  a  part  of  the  larger  question  of  pollution  in  boundary 
waters  generally,  in  the  solution  of  which  both  countries  are,  as  has 
been  shown,  vitally  interested.  The  present  international  situation 
is  not  the  result  of  any  desire  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  either 
country  to  ignore  international  obligations  either  of  comity  or  of 
law,  but  is  the  outcome  of  the  failure  on  the  part  of  the  urban  com- 
munities in  each  country,  respectively,  to  recognize  from  a  sanitary 
standpoint  any  right  in  other  communities  to  river  waters,  especially 
communities  on  their  own  side  of  the  boundary  line.  Every  border 
community  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  has  in  the  matter  of 
sanitation  considered  its  own  immediate  interests  exclusively.  The 
result  is  that  while  those  communities  have  been  tolerably  successful 


POLLUTION  OF  BOUNDARY  WATEES.  49 

• 

in  the  management  of  sanitary  affairs  within  their  own  territorial 
limits  and  have  installed  water  and  sewerage  systems  fairly  ample 
for  their  own  present  needs,  they  have  recognized  no  responsibility 
whatever  resting  upon  themselves  with  regard  to  their  sewage  efflu- 
ents, and  by  discharging,  them  untreated  into  river  waters  they  have 
compelled  their  neighbors  to  submit  to  intolerable  conditions.  The 
present  practice  of  discharging  sewage  in  this  manner  must  be  re- 
stricted until  an  equilibrium,  so  to  speak,  of  the  rights  of  all  com- 
munities in  the  waters  of  the  boundary  rivers  is  established,  in  which 
each  may  discharge  its  sewage  into  these  waters,  but  only  to  such 
an  extent  and  of  such  a  degree  of  purification  as  shall  not  interfere 
with  the  reasonable  enjoyment  by  other  communities  of  their  rights. 

The  situation  on  the  boundary  waters  is  not  unique;  many  like 
it  exist  elsewhere,  although  not  on  so  large  a  scale.  A  close  parallel 
exists  in  the  case  of  the  boundary  waters  between  England  and  Scot- 
land. By  act  of  the  British  Parliament  passed  in  1898  the  local 
government  board  for  England  and  the  secretary  for  Scotland  may, 
on  certain  steps  being  taken,  "  together  constitute  a  joint  committee 
representing  all  or  any  of  the  countries  through  or  by  which  such 
river  or  any  specified  portion  or  tributary  thereof  passes;  and  such 
committee  may  have  all  the  powers  of  a  sanitary  authority  with 
respect  to  pollution  in  such  waters." 

In  this  connection  reference  may  be  made  to  the  views  of  the 
British  royal  commissions  already  mentioned  whose  extensive  and 
exhaustive  investigations  into  river  pollution,  most  scientifically  con- 
ducted for  a  lengthened  period,  entitle  their  opinion  to  great  weight. 
Their  reports,  especially  the  reports  of  the  last  commission,  repeat- 
edly emphasize  the  great  necessity  for  sanitary  purposes  of  having 
a  river,  as  a  whole,  under  one  management. 

Under  existing  sanitary  laws  and  their  administration  the  pollu- 
tion evil  has  been  steadily  growing  along  the  boundary.  The  indif- 
ference to  injury  done  others,  the  financial  interests  of  the  different 
communities,  and  the  practical  difficulties  in  arriving  at  concerted 
action  are  so  hard  to  overcome  that  the  only  assurance  of  betterment 
lies  in  the  constitution  of  some  authority  which  shall  have  jurisdic- 
tion over  boundary  waters  and  be  clothed  with  ample  power  to 
prevent  their  being  unduly  polluted.  Consistently  with  the  exercise 
of  its  powers  by  such  an  authority,  the  installation  of  remedial  works 
and  the  expenditures  in  connection  therewith  would  all  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  local  authorities.  The  only  interference  with  the  lat- 
ter on  the  part  of  the  suggested  authority  would  be  to  prescribe 
the  necessary  capacity  of  the  sewage-purification  works  and  the 
degree  of  efficiency  with  which  they  should  be  operated.  From  the 
international  standpoint  this  capacity  and  degree  of  efficiency  need 
87873—18 4 


50  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

not  exceed  those  which  should  prevail  for  the  protection  among 
themselves  of  the  communities  on  either  side  of  the  boundary  line. 
As  has  been  remarked,  the  question  of  the  pollution  of  those 
waters  generally  is  a  matter  of  great  international  moment..  In 
view  of  this  fact  and  of  the  variety  and  possible  conflict  of  national, 
State,  provincial,  and  municipal  authorities,  it  is  too  obvious  to 
require  discussion  that  the  recommended  authority  should  be  jointly 
created  by  the  high  contracting  parties.  As  the  International  Joint 
Commission  is  under  the  treaty  clothed  with  jurisdiction  over  the 
use,  obstruction,  and  diversion  of  boundary  waters,  together  with 
jurisdiction  over  other  international  matters,  it  is  recommended  that 
the  necessary  jurisdiction  and  authority  in  respect  of  the  pollution 
of  boundary  waters  and  waters  crossing  the  boundary  be  conferred 
upon  it;  and  for  the  purpose  of  giving  effect  to  the  jurisdiction  and 
authority  so  conferred  that  the  commission  be  authorized  to  make 
such  rules,  regulations,  directions,  and  orders  as  in  its  judgment  may 
be  deemed  necessary ;  and  that  power  be  also  given  to  the  commission 
to  appoint  such  engineers  and  employees  as  it  may  consider  advisable. 


VIII.— CONCLUSIONS  AND  RECOMMENDATIONS. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  conclusions  the  commission 
has  arrived  at,  and  of  the  recommendations  it  submits  to  the  two 
Governments : 

1.  The  Great  Lakes  beyond  their  shore  waters  and  their  polluted 
areas  at  the  mouths  of  the  rivers  which  flow  into  them  are,  except 
so  far  as  they  are  affected  by  vessel  pollution,  in  a  state  of  almost 
absolute  purity.    With  the  exception  of  these  pure  areas,  the  entire 
stretch   of   boundary   waters,   including   Rainy    River,    St.    Marys 
River,  St.  Clair  River,  Detroit  River,  Niagara  River,  St.  Lawrence 
River  from  Lake  Ontario  to  Cornwall,  and  the  St.  John  River  from 
Grand  Falls  to  Edmundston,  New  Brunswick,  is  polluted  to  an 
extent  which  renders  the  water  in  its  unpurified  state  unfit  for  drink- 
ing purposes.    This  pollution  has  its  origin  chiefly  in  the  sewage  and 
storm  flows  from  the  riparian  cities  and  towns  and  the  sewage  from 
vessels.     It  is  very  intense  along  the  shores  of  the  Detroit  and 
Niagara  Rivers  and  in  the  contaminated  areas  in  the  Lakes.    Through- 
out the  whole  length  of  the  boundary  waters  where  sewage  is  dis- 
charged from  the  sewerage  works  of  cities  and  towns  the  pollution 
is  most  concentrated  in  the  shore  waters  on  the  side  of  the  boundary 
on  which  it  originates.    These  shore  waters,  besides  being  in  places 
unsightly,  malodorous,  and  absolutely  unfit  for  domestic  purposes, 
are  a  source  of  serious  danger  to  summer  residents,  bathers,  and 
others  who  frequent  the  localities.    So  foul  are  they  in  many  places 
that  municipal  ordinances  have  been  passed  prohibiting  bathing  in 
them. 

2.  In  the  Detroit  and  Niagara  Rivers  conditions  exist  which  im- 
peril the  health  and  welfare  of  the  citizens  of  both  countries  in  direct 
contravention  of  the  treaty.    This  is  true,  though  in  a  less  marked 
degree,  of  the  Rainy  and  St.  John  Rivers. 

3.  In  the  St.  Marys,  St.  Clair,  and  St.  Lawrence  Rivers  pollution 
exists  which  is  in  substantial  contravention  of  the  spirit  of  the 
treaty,  and  unless  these  conditions  are  improved,  and  the  rivers 
placed  under  the  control  of  competent  authority,  the  resulting  in- 
jury will  be  much  more  pronounced  as  population  increases. 

4.  Vessel  pollution  in  certain  parts  of  boundary  waters  exists  to 
an  extent  which  causes  substantial  injury  to  health  and  property. 
It  is  derived  from  two  soufces,  sewage  waste  from  vessels  and 
"water  ballast"  which  is  taken  in  by  lake  vessels  at  their  ports  of 
departure  and  emptied  into  these  waters  at  or  near  their  ports  of 
destination.     Vessel  pollution  is  distinctly  traceable  in  boundary 
waters  in  lanes  and  channels  which  vessels  traverse  in  navigating 

51 


52  FINAL  REPORT  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION. 

them,  their  waters  being  thereby  rendered  unfit  for  drinking  pur- 
poses. 

5.  In  some  cases  sawmill  and  other  mill  wastes,  garbage,  offal,  car- 
cases, and  other  refuse  matters  are  discharged  into  boundary  waters. 
This  practice  results  generally  in  a  contravention  of  the  treaty. 

6.  It  is  feasible  and  practicable,  without  imposing  an  unreasonable 
burden  upon  the  offending  communities,  to  prevent  or  remedy  pol- 
lution, both  in  the  case  of  boundary  waters  and  waters  crossing  the 
boundary. 

(a)  In  the  case  of  city  sewage,  this  can  best  be  accomplished  by 
the  installation  of  suitable  collecting  and  treatment  works,  the  latter 
having  special  reference  to  the  removal  of  bacteria  and  matters  in 
suspension. 

(5)  In  the  case  of  vessel  sewage,  a  feasible  and  inexpensive  remedy 
lies  in  the  employment  of  recognized  methods  of  disinfection  before 
it  is  discharged.  In  the  case  of  water  ballast  suitable  rules  and 
regulations  should  be  prescribed  with  a  view  of  protecting  the  water 
intakes. 

(c)  The  discharge  of  garbage  and  sawmill  waste  into  boundary 
waters  should  be  prohibited,  and  industrial  and  other  wastes,  which 
are  causing  appreciable  injury,  should  be  discharged  subject  to  such 
restrictions  as  may  be  prescribed. 

7.  In  order  to  remedy  and  prevent  the  pollution  of  boundary 
waters  and  to  render  them  sanitary  and  suitable  for  domestic  pur- 
poses and  other  uses,  and  to  secure  adequate  protection  and  develop- 
ment of  all  interests  involved  on  both  sides  of  the  boundary,  and  to 
fulfill  the  obligations  undertaken  in  Article  IV  of  the  treaty,  it  is 
advisable  to  confer  upon  the  International  Joint  Commission  ample 
jurisdiction  to  regulate  and  prohibit  this  pollution  of  boundary 
waters  and  waters  crossing  the  boundary. 

Hereto  annexed  is  a  schedule  showing  the  reports  made  to  and  by 

the  commission,  and  of  the  minutes  of  its  sittings,  which  have  already 

been  printed,  or  which  the  commission  contemplates  having  printed. 

Dated  at  Atlantic  City,  N.  J.,  this  12th  day  of  August,  A.  D.  1918. 

CHARLES  A.  MAGRATH. 

OBADIAH  GARDNER. 

HENRY  A.  POWELL. 

JAMES  A.  TAWNEY. 

P.  B.  MIGNAULT. 

R%  B.  GLENN. 


SCHEDULE. 

LIST  OF  PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  JOINT  COMMISSION  RELA- 
TIVE TO  THE  POLLUTION  OF  BOUNDARY  WATERS. 

1.  Preliminary  report  of  the  committee  having  general  supervision  of  the 
Investigation  relating  to  the  pollution  of  boundary  waters,  with  documents  on 
file  in  the  United  States  War  Department  relating  to  the  petitions  of  the  Erie 
&  Ontario  Sanitary  Canal  Co.  for  permission  to  divert  6,000  second-feet  from 
Lake  Erie  for  the  purpose  of  remedying  the  existing  pollution  of  Niagara  River. 
Washington,  1913. 

2.  Progress  report  of  the  International  Joint  Commission  on  the  reference  by 
the  United  States  and  Canada  in  re  the  pollution  of  boundary  waters,  whether 
or  not  such  pollution  extends  across  the  boundary  in  contravention  of  the  treaty 
of  January  11,  1909,  and,  if  so,  in  what  manner  or  by  what  means  is  it  possible 
to  prevent  the  same,  including  report  of  the  sanitary  experts.     Washington. 
1914. 

3.  Pollution  of  boundary  waters.    Conference  with  sanitary  engineers  at  New 
York  City,  May  26  and  27,  1914.    Washington,  1914. 

4.  Resume  of  testimony  of  consulting  sanitary  engineers  in  the  matter  of  the 
pollution  of  boundary  waters.    Conference  at  New  York  City,  May  26-27,  1914. 
Washington,  1914. 

5.  Hearings  of  the  International  Joint  Commission  in  re  remedies  for  the 
pollution  of  boundary  waters  between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  held  at 
Niagara  Falls,  Ontario,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  Detroit,  Mich.,  Windsor,  Ontario,  Port 
Huron,  Mich.,  and  Sarnia,  Ontario,  September  25  to  October  2,  inclusive;  De- 
troit, Mich.,  November  10  and  11 ;  and  Washington,  D.  C.,  December  14  and  16. 
1914.     Washington,  1914. 

6.  Hearings  of  the  International  Joint  Commission  in  re  remedies  for  the 
pollution  of  boundary  waters  between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  being  pub- 
lic hearings  held  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  Detroit,  Mich.,  June  21-27,  1916,  and 
Ogdensburg,  N.  Y.,  August  25,  1916.    Washington,  1917. 

7.  Report  of  the  consulting  sanitary  engineer  upon  remedial  measures.    March 
8,  1916.    Washington,  1918. 

8.  Final  report  of  the  International  Joint  Commission 'in  the  matter  of  the 
reference  by  the  United  States  and  the  Dominion  of  Canada  relative  to  the  pol- 
lution of  boundary  waters.    Washington,  1918. 

53 


INDEX. 


A. 

Activated  sludge  process,  41,  44. 

Algonac,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Amherstburg,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Amyot,  Dr.  John  A.,  attends  conference  at 
Buffalo,  9 ;  employed  as  sanitary  ex- 
pert, 10. 

B. 

Bacteriological  investigation,  10. 

Bartow,  Dr.  Edward,  attends  conference  at 
Buffalo,  9. 

Biochemical   oxidation,   41. 

Boundary  waters,  definition  of,  5-6. 

Bowen,  Millard  F.,  re  Erie  &  Ontario  Sani- 
tary Canal  Co.,  47. 

Bridgeburg,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Buffalo,  conference  at,  9 ;  cost  of  remedial 
works,  42. 

By-products  of  sewage,   44. 

C. 

Chippawa,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 
Clark,  Dr.   Edward,  attends  conference  at 

Buffalo,  9. 
Clinton,     George,     attends    conference    at 

Buffalo,  9 ;  re  Erie  &  Ontario   Sanitary 

Canal  Co.,  47. 

Commerce  of  Great  Lakes,  value  of,  7. 
Conclusions  and  recommendations,  51-52. 


D. 


Dallyn,  F.  A.,  attends  conference  at  Buf- 
falo, 9 ;  employed  as  sanitary  expert,  10 ; 
as  advisory  engineer,  13 ;  re'sume'  of  tes- 
timony of,  13-15. 

Detroit,  cost  of  sewage  treatment  works, 
40,  42. 

Detroit  River,  pollution,  20-21 ;  trans- 
boundary  effects,  25 ;  tentative  standard 
adopted,  38. 

Dilution   method,   35. 

Drainage  canals,  46—48. 

E. 

Ecorse,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 
Engineering    investigations,    15 ;    scope    of, 

15 ;   cooperation   of  communities,   15-10. 
Erie    &    Ontario    Sanitary    Canal    project, 

46-47. 

F. 

Fisheries  endangered   by   pollution,   23. 
Ford  City,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 
Fort  Erie,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 
Fronczak,  Dr.  Francis  E.,  9. 
Fuller,    George   W.,    employed   as   advisory 

engineer,    13 ;    re'sume'    of    testimony    ol, 

13-15. 


G. 

Garbage  pollution,  45,  52. 

Great  Lakes,  value  of  industries,  7 ;  canals, 

7;  value  of  mines,  7;  lake  shipping,  7; 

pleasure    resorts,    7 ;    water    powers,    8 ; 

transboundary    effect    of    pollution,    27 ; 

purity  of  waters,  51. 

H. 

Hatton,  T.  Chalkley,  re  sewage  treatment 
at  Milwaukee,  44. 

Hearings  of  1914  and  1916,  13,  17. 

Hill,  John  W.,  attends  conference  at  Buf- 
falo, 9. 

Hodgetts,  Charles  A.,  attends  conference 
at  Buffalo,  9. 

Horton,  Theodore,  attends  conference  at 
Buffalo,  9. 

Hubbell,  Clarence  W.,  appointed  by  Detroit 
as  sanitary  engineer,  16 ;  extract  from 
report,  39-40. 

I. 

Injury,  definition  of,  3 — ,  34  ;  complexity 
of  question,  32 ;  from  two  standpoints, 
33 ;  to  summer  residents,  33 ;  in  Detroit 
and  Niagara  rivers,  34 ;  in  Rainy  and 
St.  John  rivers,  34  ;  in  other  boundary 
rivers,  34. 

International  authority  recommended,  48- 
50,  52. 

International  situation,  28-29. 


K. 


Kenmore,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 
Knox,    P.    C.,    defines    scope    of    investiga- 
tion,  6. 

I/. 

Laboratories,  location   of,   11. 

Lackawanna,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Lafreniere,  Theodore  J.,  attends  conference 
at  Buffalo,  9 ;  employed  as  advisory  en- 
gineer, 13 ;  re'sume'  of  testimony  of, 
13-15. 

Lake  Erie,  pollution,  21. 

Lake    Huron,    pollution,    20. 

Lake  of  the  Woods,  pollution,  18-19. 

Lake  Ontario,  pollution,  22. 

Lake  St.  Clair,  pollution,  20. 

Lasalle,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Lea,  W.  S.,  employed  as  advisory  engineer, 
13 ;  re'sume"  of  testimony  of,  13-15. 

Lewiston,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Limit  of  bacterial  pollution,  36-37,  40. 


M. 


McCullough,  Dr.  J.  W.  S.,  attends  confer- 
ence at  Buffalo,  9 ;  employed  as  sanitary 

55 


56 


INDEX. 


expert,  10. 

McLaughlin,  Dr.  Allan  J.,  attends  con- 
ference at  Buffalo,  9,  10 ;  employed  as 
chief  sanitary  expert,  10. 

.vlacnaghten,   on  rights  in  streams,  30-31. 

Maps  prepared,  12. 

Marine  City,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Mills,  W.  M.,  attends  conference  at  Buf- 
falo, 9. 

Montizambert,  Dr.  Frederick,  attends  con- 
ference at  Buffalo,  9. 

Alunicipalities,  attitude  of,  39. 


N. 


New   York  conference,    13. 

Niagara    Falls,    N.    Y.,    cost    of    remedial 

works,  43. 
Niagara     Falls,     Ont.,     cost     of     remedial 

work,  43. 
Niagara    River,    pollution,    21-22  ;    trans- 

boundary  effects,  26  ;  tentative  standard 

adopted,  38. 
North  Tonawanda,  cost  of  remedial  works, 

43. 
Norton,   George   H.,   attends   conference  at 

Buffalo,  9. 

P. 

Palmer,  Dr.  W.  G.,  attends  conference  at 
Buffalo,  9. 

Paterson,  Edward  A.,  re  sludge  treat- 
ment, 44. 

Phelps,  Earle  B.,  employed  as  advisory  en- 
gineer, 13  ;  resume  of  testimony  of, 
13-15  ;  employed  as  consulting  sanitary 
engineer,  15  ;  summary  of  report  re 
Buffalo  and  Detroit,  42. 

Physical  pollution,  40. 

Plans  for  treatment  works,  16. 

Points  of  investigation,  10. 

Pollution  reference,  text  of,  5  ;  scope  of, 
6  ;  rivers  crossing  boundary,  6  ;  interests 
affected,  7  ;  sources  and  extent  of,  18, 
51  ;  from  vessels,  22-23  ;  from  sawmills, 
23  ;  transboundary  effects  of,  25. 

Port  Huron,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Powell,  H.  A.,  takes  evidence  at  Buffalo, 
12-13. 

Provincial  health  authorities,  cooperation 
of,  16. 

Pruyn,  Irving  L.,  attends  conference  at 
Buffalo,  9. 

Public  health   conservation,   32. 

Pumping  station  plants,  17. 


Qucenston,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 
R. 

Rainy  Lake,   pollution,   18. 

Rainy  River,  pollution,  18,  42,  43  ;  trans- 

boundary  effects  of,  26. 
Randolph,  Isham,  re  Erie  &  Ontario  Sani- 

tary Canal,  47. 


Raw  sewage,  discharge  of,  35. 
Remedial    works,    39-46. 
Resume'  of  New  York  testimony,  13-15. 
Rights    in    streams,    30-31 ;    common    law 

inadequate,  31. 

River  Rouge,   cost  of  remedial  works,   43. 
Royal  Commissions  on  sewage  disposal,  32, 

49. 

S. 

St.  Clair,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

St.  Clair  River,  pollution,  20,  42. 

St.   Croix   River,   pollution,   23,   42,  43. 

St.  John  River,  pollution,  22,  42 ;  trans- 
boundary  effects,  26. 

St.   Lawrence  River,   pollution,  22,   42-43. 

St.  Marys  River,  pollution,  19,  42-43; 
transboundary  effects,  26. 

Sampling  points,  11. 

Sanitary  experts  employed,  9. 

Sarnia,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Sawmill  and  industrial  wastes,  23,  46,  52. 

Screening,  41. 

Sedimentation,  41. 

Seymour,  A.  H.,  attends  conference  at 
Buffalo,  9,  10. 

State  health  authorities,  cooperation  of,  16. 

Streeter,  Frank  S.,  takes  evidence  at  Buf- 
falo, 12-13. 

T. 

Temperature  observations.  12. 

Tentative  standard,   37-38. 

Thompson,  John,  attends  conference  at 
Buffalo,  9. 

Thunder  Bay,  pollution,  19. 

Tonawanda,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Transboundary  effects  of  pollution,  25 ;  in 
Detroit  River,  25 ;  in  Niagara  River,  26 ; 
in  Rainy  River,  26 ;  in  St.  Marys  River, 
26 ;  in  St.  John  River,  26 ;  other  bound- 
ary rivers,  26-27 ;  in  Great  Lakes,  27 ; 
vessel  pollution,  28. 

Trenton,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Trunk   line  interceptors,    17. 

Typhoid  fever  statistics,  23-24,  29. 

V. 

Vessel  pollution,  22-23,  51 ;  transboundary 
effect  of,  28 ;  treatment,  45. 

W. 

Water  and  sewage  works,  cost  of,  42. 
Water  supplies,  protection  of,  35. 
Whipple,  George  C.,  employed  as  advisory 

engineer,    13 ;    re"sum<§    of    testimony    of, 

13-15. 

Whitefish  Bay,  pollution,  19. 
Whittaker,    H.    A.,    attends    conference    at 

Buffalo,  9. 

Windsor,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 
Wyandotte,  cost  of  remedial  works,  43. 

Y. 


Youngstown,    cost   of   remedial   works,   43. 


o 


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9    REC'D 

,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 


Book  Slip-70m-9,'65(F7151s4)458 


N°  452644 

TDU25 

International  Joint       16 
Commission  (U.S.  and      1918 
Canada)  1909- 

Final  report  of  the 
International  joint  commission 
on  the  pollution  of  boundary 
waters  reference. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


